Dodger Thoughts

Royals 11, Dodgers 5

Highlights:

• Tim Redding pitched three shutout innings, giving him five for the spring with three strikeouts.
• James Loney went 2 for 2.
• Relievers Ramon Troncoso and Carlos Monasterios pitched shutout ball.
• Jamie Hoffmann (1 for 2) is now, like Loney, 4 for 8 this spring.
• Juan Castro hit a three-run home run.

Lowlights:

• Scott Elbert had a nightmare outing, walking four of the five batters he faced. From Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.:
  

  … With assistant GM of player development DeJon Watson in the broadcast booth with Charley Steiner, Elbert was missing the strike zone every which way. Elbert came in the game in relief of Jon Link in the fifth inning, then pitched into the sixth. Watson spoke of how Elbert got more consistent in his delivery over the winter, and was able to show two dominant pitches in the Arizona Fall League, but as those words were being spoken Elbert was missing the strike zone quite often. Elbert faced five batters, and walked four of them. He threw 21 pitches, only five of them for strikes.

  On the broadcast, one could hear Watson rooting for Elbert, the Dodgers’ 2009 minor league pitcher of the year, even as he was struggling. Watson said Elbert has great stuff that is “electric through the strike zone,” and Watson seemed to take Elbert’s outing in stride. “He’s having a tough outing today, but I think you’ll see better outings from Mr. Elbert in the future,” Watson said. Elbert better hope so; he has faced 10 batters this spring, and walked six of them. He did strike out two, and the other two batters didn’t hit the ball out of the infield, but Elbert needs to show some control before he even sniffs the 25-man roster. …
  

• Jon Link was charged with three runs while getting two outs; Luis Vasquez was charged with four runs while getting three outs.
• Aaron Miles had a double but made his second error of the spring.
• Xavier Paul struck out twice, dropping to 1 for 8 this exhibition season.
• Juan Castro hit a three-run home run.

Sidelights:

• Clayton Kershaw, not yet eligible for arbitration, signed his one-year 2011 contract for the expected figure of $500,000. Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com has details.  In fact, every man on the 40-man roster has now been signed for 2011, with Ronald Belisario having his contract renewed and then getting placed on the restricted list.
• The adventures of Dee Gordon, again courtesy of Mr. Stephen:
  

  There was a funny moment in the fifth inning, when Mike Moustakas lofted a foul pop near the photography well adjacent to the back of the Dodger dugout. Aaron Miles was in pursuit of the ball, but Dee Gordon, who was not in the game and sitting on the steps of the dugout, tried to evade Miles by moving out of the dugout. Instead, Gordon got the way of Miles, who was unable to make the catch. Watson, who was in the booth with Charley Steiner, could be heard saying something like, “Jesus criminey” or something to that effect.

• Remarkable: Larry Granillo researched “Peanuts” comic strips for Baseball Prospectus and found Duke Snider was mentioned twice (once with Willie Mays, once with a host of players), compared to three mentions for Mickey Mantle and Mays combined, once for Mantle alone and four times for Mays alone (including the famous spelling bee episode).
• James Loney fares a bit below average in David Pinto’s defensive statistical rankings of first basemen from 2006-10 at Baseball Musings.
• Ernest Reyes of Blue Heaven posted photos of the new grass being installed at Dodger Stadium.
• Charlie Sheen meets Ron Swanson x John Wooden: The Sheen Pyramid of Greatness.
• Juan Castro hit a three-run home run. From Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
  

  When he left the game after five innings and returned to the clubhouse, this note was posted on the bulletin board:

  “Juan Castro: Please report to [Dodgers trainer] Stan Conte after the game for a mandatory steroid test.”

Update: Jackson writes about Castro and Elbert.