Wows!

Wow! Andre Ethier gets the start in left field tomorrow when the Dodgers open against the Jints. Juan Pierre, aka Slappy McPopup, goes to the bench. As recently as a week and a half ago, I didn't think Torre, who said going in that said going in that PVL (proven veteran leadership) would have the inside track, would pick Ethier over Pierre, despite the fact that Ethier is clearly the better all around player. But Ethier had by far the best spring on the team, and Pierre had by far the worst. So, Pierre will make $9M each of the next four years to sit on the bench. At some point there will have to be a trade, because there is too much baggage there.

Still waiting to see if Blake DeWitt makes the team. He's really, really young (21) and has played very few games even at AA, but he's the only guy left standing at third. The organization would probably really like to get him some more seasoning, but unless Ned makes a trade there's really no one else.

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Wow! That was quite the entertaining game in the LA Colosseum last night. I especially liked the Dodgers' choice to not even bother with a left fielder (since the fence was so close to the shortstop), but to instead play Andruw Jones just behind second base. That decision lead to the extremely rare scoring notation, "CS 2-8," (caught stealing catcher to center fielder) when Jacoby Ellsbury was nailed trying to steal second.

More pictures here.

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Wow! Hiroki Kiroda and Clayton Kershaw looked terrific as they took the Sox to school today, taking a combined no-hitter into the eighth. Pierre celebrated his demotion by having his best game of the spring, although he did manage to get picked off first.

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Wow! Two ex-Dodger pitchers I couldn't wait to be rid of are the opening day pitchers for their respective teams. This says much more about the teams than the pitchers. Odalis Perez opened the season for the Nats tonight in their new park, and amazingly enough was pretty good. But the stunner is that Mark Hendrickson will start for the Marlins tomorrow against the Mets. And if that wasn't unbelievable enough, Luis Gonzales will be patrolling right field for the Marlins, as well. Gonzo doesn't have the arm to play left anymore, much less right. The management of the Marlins should be ashamed. They're not, of course. They're laughing all the way to the bank.