And for post #3 in a row:

Less than 2 weeks until opening day!

All of the questions for the Dodgers remain unanswered, which makes me uneasy. On paper, they've got a lot of great pieces to work with, but it's hard to see how they'll come together.

Pitching: Kuroda's looked good through spring. They were hoping for a solid #4 starter. If he stays strong he might even be a good #3 or #2 option. Loiaza looks like he's going to get that wild card #5 slot by default with Schmidt slow to rehab. He also had an encouraging spring, but I'm not holding my breath. With Billingsly needing to prove that he can deliver in his sophomore season as a starter, the rotation only has 2 proven pieces, which is unsettling. At least the bullpen should start strong, hopefully that starters can burn enough innings to keep it that way.

Outfield: No change here. 5 players, 3 positions. It's not a horrible dilemna to have, but there's bound to be someone unhappy with not enough playing time. But if Jones "bounces back" (I'm still not convinced that someone who had 90+ RBI needs any bouncing back) and Kemp learns to pay attention his 3rd base coach, they should produce some big numbers.

3rd Base: My how quickly things change. They went from a logjam to potentially starting a gimpy 3rd stringer opening day. Hopefully someone can hold down to fort to prevent a panic trade for a short term solution.

Ooops, almost forgot about Kershaw. I watched one Spring game where he pitched and saw some jaw-dropping stuff. But I'm really wary of bringing him up so soon.

Let's review the prospects for my hometown team...

New stadium, The Pope, Players, Coaches and no freaking parking. This team can bite my shiny metal ass.



Sorry Kevy. :D

I'll break your string... [ETA: Moonie beat me to that]

I am looking forward to how Torre will bring it all together. The Dodgers haven't had a good skipper since Tommy Lasagna (and it was cool seeing him coach a couple of games down in Vero Beach while Torre and half the squad were in Japan).

Otherwise, I haven't been keeping up on the Dodgers as much this season.

Although I would LOVE to go to the Coliseum game!!!

My guess is he'll do it by sitting calmly on the bench while picking his nose for 9 innings.

And here we go.

Juan Pierre is already whining about his role.

Yeah! Good way to start a season: beating the Giants 5-0.

Penny kicked some serious ass!

I was so excited to come home and watch opening day on TiVo, completely forgetting about the local blackout. Fooey. Had I remembered I would have at least followed the game on Gameday at work. Oh well, gotta love the outcome. Good to see Kent flashing some power early on.

I was bummed that I'd miss it. When I got home they were airing it on FSN.

Really tested my allegiance. I spent the last decade in SF, so I was hoping for more of a battle.

Ah well, it wasn't like they were playing the Mets...

I was afraid of that. TiVo went for the ESPN listing, which was a false listing. Feh.

Baseball tonight was falling all over itself over Johan Santana, but they barely mentioned Penny.

Santana: 7.0ip, 3 hits, 2 ER, 2BB, 8K, 1HR
Penny: 6 2/3 ip, 4 hits, 0 ER, 2BB, 3K, 0 HR

That gets just an afterthought mention?!

Oh well, at least they gave the #1 web gem to Furcal.

I should start keeping track of how theoretical runs Andruw Jones prevents from scoring this season that Juan Pierre would have given up.

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