I struck out the side of the Dutch lineup.....and I liked it!

The mysterious Minotaur

The Dodgers defeated the Brewers today, bring there meaningless spring training record up to 9-6. Kershaw struggled a little bit, and this would be cause for concern if he were not to make a minimum of at least three or (probably) four more starts this spring.

People.....the Dodgers have 22 spring training games remaining! Last year they played a total of 33, this year they play 37. Why have 4 extra games? Well I don't know, but spring training seems absurdly long this year. Pitchers and catchers reported on Valentines Day and Opening Day is April 7.

So yeah....I think concerns about Manny not being ready are a little overblown at this point. Manny walked twice, singled once, and then joked his timing "sucked."

Headline in today's Boston Globe:
MANNY WALKS TO SLOW TO FIRST BASE AFTER 4TH BALL

In the meantime, MSTI has launched a campaign to save the Vincent Chase of utility players, and as usual, it means ragging on Juan Pierre. Given the recent Manny stuff going down in Boston, I want to see Juan Pierre moved to Boston to test whether the Red Sox will love him for some bizarre reason. It could happen: remember how much Red Sox fans are totally in love with Dave Roberts for that steal.

How could Davey Johnson lead such a talented team to underachieving? Oh wait...

Also.....Jake Peavy is a traitor. 14.40 against Canada and Puerto Rico? At least he won't be giving up 18 hits to the Dutch tomorrow when America is uncerimoniously eliminated from the World Baseball Classic. Trust me people, it's happening because these players just don't care.

So I say that next time we replace the baseball players with American lady pop stars. I'm so-so on Katy Perry's music, but I'm pretty damn sure she could shut down the Dutch lineup better than Peavy could.

Katy Perry: 4.1 IP, 3 H, BB, ER, 4 K
Jake Peavy: 2IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 6 ER, 2 K

Wow.....it took til the 3rd post to get to Juan Pierre sucks!

So Jason Schmidt made his spring debut today vs. the Rangers. Could have gone better but I wasn’t overly concerned. He gave up a 3 run homer to Taylor Teagarden (which is either the best baseball name or the worst) but from what I can gather Teagarden can hit for power. I really don’t know what to think on this one because I wouldn’t be terribly excited if Schmidt had totally dominated either. Spring training is just that training…..although I hope for Kevin Millwood’s sake he was tinkering with some kind of pitch and that’s why he got absolutely shelled. Good to see that teammates Andruw Jones and Kevin Millwood seem to be taking the same path in their post-Braves career.

More important is who is our 5^th starter going to be? As one always should do, I looked ahead at the schedule to see if the Dodgers need a 5^th starter when they break camp. They need someone to start April 10 vs. Arizona, but after that they can go until April 18^th vs. Colorado before they need another one and then need a consistent 5^th starter. Thus far I am not particularly excited by any of the names being thrown around: Schmidt has injury problems, Vargas is a journeyman, Shawn Estes has been shelled, and Eric Milton has shown a habit of pitching in and out of trouble. I’m not really considering McDonald or Troncoso at this point because I feel they should start the season in the bullpen, and Jeff Weaver has only been talked about in a relief context at this point. My personal preference is a healthy Schmidt, I think this first start is a lot of rust coming off but he needs to start performing soon to win the 5^th spot. After Schmidt I’d take Weaver or Vargas.

Personally I believe whoever does win the 5^th spot will end up being replaced by McDonald in roughly June or so which is the right way to go. I’d rather have McDonald build confidence in the bigs in a relief role than have to go out and feel the pressure to perform immediately. It also helps keeping his innings down, always critical with a young pitcher.

Past the starting pitching there were two other bright points today. First Kuo pitched without pain in a B game, which is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately I think the Dodgers will always have to deal with some kind of injury issue with Kuo, not through his own fault, but because he seems to be one of these guys fated to always have injury issues. Maybe there’s something wrong with him mechanically but tinkering with an effective pitchers mechanics is a dangerous game.

Second, Xavier Paul continues to rake in spring training. To be honest I feel Paul has essentially forced the Dodgers hand as to his career future. If they envision him as a starter, then he needs to start looking for apartments in New Mexico. If however they feel he can be a bench player, well now is the time really. I don’t see him cracking the Dodgers spectacular outfield this year or for that matter next, so I’m inclined to put him in the 4^th outfielder role. The roster spot he’d take would almost assuredly be Delwyn “Vincent Chase of Utility Players” Young or Jason “DL by Tax Day” Repko, but in all honesty it should be Juan Pierre’s. Paul seems to be a more complete player than Pierre, which is of course like saying The Dark Knight seems like a more complete movie than the trailer for The Happening. I could live with him taking Young or Repko’s place, but if the Dodgers are going to end up releasing Pierre, why not now instead of later?