LOS ANGELES DODGERS CLIPS
THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014
DODGERS.COM
Adrian plans to play opener despite sore back
By Ken Gurnick
SYDNEY -- Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez has lower back tightness he thinks was triggered by sightseeing, but it shouldn't keep him from starting Opening Night against the D-backs.
"I need to rest, get off my feet," said Gonzalez, who was removed from Thursday night's 4-2 exhibition win against Team Australia in the fourth inning. "I've done a lot of walking around the city. I'll be good [for Saturday night]. I'm positive I'll feel better tomorrow."
Gonzalez said he felt discomfort in pregame stretching, but started the game hoping it would improve.
"It actually got tighter," he said. "I swung at a pitch in the second at-bat, and it didn't feel good. I finished the at-bat because I didn't want to take myself out of the game in the middle of the at-bat."
Gonzalez reached for his back on that pitch before lining out sharply to right field. When the Dodgers took the field for the bottom of the inning, left fielder Scott Van Slyke had replaced Gonzalez at first base and Mike Baxter had taken over left field.
Gonzalez said he had planned to play seven innings. Manager Don Mattingly said he "feels good" about Gonzalez's chances of being available for the Opening Series this weekend.
Gonzalez was the iron man for the Dodgers last year, playing in a team-high 157 games and through a painful strained neck muscle.
Puig leads comeback against Team Australia
By Ken Gurnick
SYDNEY -- A flop in the Cactus League this spring, the Yasiel Puig who dazzled America last summer revived the show Down Under on Thursday at the fabled Sydney Cricket Ground.
The Dodgers' flamboyant right fielder slugged his first home run of the exhibition season and threw a runner out at the plate as the Dodgers edged Team Australia, 4-2, in their final tuneup for this weekend's Opening Series against the D-backs.
"I haven't hit one for a while, so it's great to get back out again," said Puig, who came into the game with a .122 batting average this spring.
"I did feel bad [about the poor spring numbers]. I have been preparing well, but it's not going as well as I'd hoped for. Spring Training, at the end of the day, doesn't matter. It's two months, and the season is long. Those at-bats are the ones that matter."
Manager Don Mattingly seemed to agree, discounting Puig's batting-practice results as well.
"With him, batting practice means pretty much nothing," Mattingly said. "We know Yasiel can hit. The games before we left, he swung OK but didn't get hits.
"I see this as a year of transition for him. We've seen [pitchers] make adjustments and seen him handle the adjustments and make them back. He showed last year he can."
Puig tied the game with a towering two-run shot to left field in the eighth inning off Matthew Williams, scoring A.J. Ellis, who had walked. It was only the second hit of the game for the Dodgers, the other coming from first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who left after his fourth-inning at-bat with lower back tightness.
The Dodgers took the lead later in the eighth. Chone Figgins followed Puig's homer with a walk, took third when second baseman Logan Wade booted Mike Baxter's routine grounder and scored on catcher Ryan Battaglia's passed ball. Baxter scored on Juan Uribe's single.
The Dodgers went with a lineup that might show up again Opening Night, although Mattingly wouldn't confirm that. It had Dee Gordon leading off at second base, Puig batting second and Scott Van Slyke in left field.
Prospect Zach Lee, the starting pitcher for the Dodgers, allowed one run on three hits with six strikeouts in four innings. Fellow non-roster pitcher Red Patterson allowed one run on two hits with four strikeouts in three innings.
Lee, most likely ticketed to Triple-A Albuquerque this year, said SCG felt like a typical baseball stadium and resulted in "just a normal game."
Lee pitched out of a second-inning jam by getting Logan Wade to bounce out with runners on second and third and two outs, but Australia found the scoreboard in the third inning.
With one out, former Boston prospect Mitch Dening was nicked by a pitch, Brad Harman doubled him to third and Red Sox farmhand Stafan Welch's sacrifice fly to deep right field scored Dening.
Australia scored another run in the sixth inning on a leadoff walk to Harman, a wild pitch, a groundout and a two-out, broken-bat infield single by Mike Walker, who took second on Justin Turner's errant underhand flip to first.
Tim Kennelly then singled to right field, but Puig easily threw out Walker at the plate to end the inning.
Blue grit: For Mattingly, toughness breeds success
By Ken Gurnick
SYDNEY -- The Dodgers are rich and talented enough. But are they tough enough?
Don Mattingly wanted to see more toughness from the club when he took over as manager three years ago. The Dodgers showed grit in 2013 in storming from worst to first over the final three months to win the division and beat the Braves in the National League Division Series, but they stumbled on the final hurdle and were eliminated by the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series.
The 2014 season opens in Australia on Saturday (1 a.m. PT, 7 p.m. in Sydney) against the D-backs, who saw a meaner side of the Dodgers during last season's melee. Both clubs can make the case that the incident decided their seasons -- for better and worse.
From the on-field confrontation to clinching the division and celebrating in the D-backs' pool, Los Angeles rubbed Arizona's nose in its success, and Kirk Gibson's team is on a mission of revenge.
"You look at baseball and you don't think of the game in terms of toughness," said Mattingly, who got a three-year extension in January. "People think of football, hockey -- in this country, rugby. Baseball is more about mental toughness, getting ready to play day in and day out, with travel and getting into town late and all kinds of things. It's not easy to do."
So is this club tough enough to clear that final hurdle and get to the World Series?
"We feel like we're tough," Mattingly said. "We were down 10 games in the division and ended up winning by 10 or 11. To me, we went through a lot. We're not afraid of the field."
General manager Ned Colletti said that tough teams survive "crossroad" moments in a season, a game, an inning, an at-bat.
"You have to prepare, to focus and have the passion for it all to be at a competitively advantageous level," Colletti said.
"I think we are tough enough. We had the makings of it last year. We developed toughness through adversity. We stayed the course through the first two months, we went 42-8 and got within two wins of the World Series without [Matt] Kemp, with Hanley [Ramirez] playing hurt and [Andre Ethier] not at full strength, yet we came that close. So I know we have it."
The Dodgers also have a payroll that continues to climb, now approaching $250 million, but the expectations remain the same as the day Guggenheim Baseball Partners bought the team from Frank McCourt. Win a World Series. Then another.
The pitching staff is loaded. Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dan Haren (Ricky Nolasco's replacement) could form the best starting quartet the club has had. Depending on health and the time of the year, the fifth starter could be Josh Beckett, Paul Maholm or Chad Billingsley, all former All-Stars.
The bullpen is even deeper. Kenley Jansen, Brian Wilson, Chris Perez (Ronald Belisario's replacement), J.P. Howell and Brandon League have all had 20-plus save seasons -- and Jose Dominguez might have a better arm than any of them. Paco Rodriguez was one of the toughest lefties until he got worn out late, and Chris Withrow began justifying his first-round status. Veteran Jamey Wright is the long man.
The main spring project was figuring out second base after miscalculating the readiness of Cuban Alex Guerrero to step in for Mark Ellis. Guerrero needs more time, but Dee Gordon made the transition from shortstop, adding his game-changing speed to a lineup that has the potential to score. Justin Turner could be the platoon-mate.
And although some observers count four outfielders for three positions, having four healthy outfielders has been hypothetical so far.
Kemp hasn't been healthy since 2011, and he might be soon, but there are no guarantees. Carl Crawford missed a month last season, already is absent because of the imminent birth of his child and on Tuesday left a Minor League game because of the flu.
Yasiel Puig remains the wild card -- literally. After introducing himself a year ago with a jaw-dropping .517 batting average, he hit .120 this spring and has caused concern on the field. He's hitting the cutoff man, which is a vast fundamental improvement, but his baserunning discipline remains an unknown because he hasn't been on base much.
The most reliable of the four turns out to be Ethier, who seamlessly became a center fielder out of necessity last season, as well as an ironman.
Adrian Gonzalez was the unsung MVP of the offense last season, and Ramirez could be primed for an MVP season himself, with free agency looming. But the talk of a contract extension has quieted; the Dodgers apparently want to see if Ramirez can stay healthier than he did last season.
Juan Uribe is back, and the club is hoping he plays the way he did last season, when he needed a new contract, and not the way he did the two previous years after receiving one.
A.J. Ellis and Tim Federowicz return behind the plate, where offense is considered secondary to their ability to get the most out of the pitchers.
The bench was rebuilt after the team let Nick Punto and Skip Schumaker depart, with Jerry Hairston retiring. Chone Figgins (after a year exile) and Mike Baxter won their spots, joining Scott Van Slyke.
Backup catcher decision looms before opener
By Ken Gurnick
SYDNEY -- The Dodgers have at least one tough roster decision to make before the first game of the Opening Series on
Saturday -- backup catcher.
Tim Federowicz made last year's Opening Day roster and spent four stints as No. 1 catcher A.J. Ellis' understudy when not shuttling to Triple-A Albuquerque. But at last year's July 31 Trade Deadline, the Dodgers acquired defensive specialist Drew Butera from the Twins.
For roster purposes, the difference in the pair is this: Federowicz can be optioned to the Minor Leagues, but Butera is out of options and would need to clear waivers to remain in the organization. Keeping three catchers who play no other
position is very unlikely.
The likely move is to option Federowicz, keep Butera as the backup, and fill the last roster spot with Cuban rookie infielder Alex Guerrero. Of the three apparent extra position players on the trip (Miguel Rojas and Joc Pederson are the others), Guerrero is the only one already on the Major League roster.
Adding either of the others would require the Dodgers to move somebody off the 40-man roster.
The Dodgers will have some roster flexibility when they resume regular-season play in the U.S. March 30 in San Diego.
Outfielder Carl Crawford can come off the paternity list, and the three exempt pitchers (Zack Greinke, Dan Haren and Brandon League) can be activated. Josh Beckett will likely be placed on the disabled list because of a bruised hand.
Signs point to Gordon leading off, starting at second
By Ken Gurnick
SYDNEY -- Don Mattingly hasn't officially announced his starting lineup for the first game of the Opening Series, but the one he put on the field for Thursday's exhibition game against Team Australia will probably be repeated when the Dodgers face the D-backs on Saturday night at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Dee Gordon led off and played second base, a job he apparently won with a more impressive transition from shortstop than Cuban signee Alex Guerrero. Right fielder Yasiel Puig batted second, even though Mattingly said early in spring he's intrigued by the idea of Puig leading off.
The lineup also had Scott Van Slyke in left field, where he's filling in for Carl Crawford. Mattingly said Crawford's shoulder issue has cleared, he doesn't have the flu and he will return to Minor League games Thursday. Still no word on the anticipated birth of his child, which put him on the paternity list and off the flight here.
Mattingly said he would manage the exhibition like a "regular game because we don't have enough replacements. Somebody has to play. I'd like to get Van Slyke the last couple innings at first base."
Both teams were restricted to bringing only 30 players on the trip.
Mattingly said he would use as few relievers as possible so his bullpen was fresh for the two games that count.
"We've had good bullpens, doing what we can to keep them sharp," he said. "I don't want to get to Saturday and Sunday and have guys that aren't available. Our hands are tied with the number of guys available."
LA TIMES
Dodgers' Hyun-Jin Ryu, in Australia, encounters his changeup mentor
By Dylan Hernandez
SYDNEY, Australia — Hyun-Jin Ryu has traveled not only to the other side of the world, but also back in time.
On the Australian All-Star team the Dodgers will face Thursday night is 44-year-old Dae-Sung Koo, a fellow left-hander from whom Ryu learned his best pitch, the changeup.
Here to pitch the second game of the Dodgers' two-game, season-opening series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Ryu saw Koo at the Sydney Cricket Ground earlier this week. When Ryu did, he made it a point to call Koo "sunbae," a Korean term used to show deference to a senior.
"It was very good to see him," Ryu said through an interpreter. "I think it's about three years since I've last seen him. He hasn't changed a bit."
Ryu's career was rising and Koo's declining when they intersected in their native South Korea. Ryu was a 19-year-old rookie when he met a then-36-year-old Koo, a teammate on the Hanwha Eagles.
Ryu had reasons to admire him. The previous year, Koo had pitched for the New York Mets. He was a former Olympian and Korean league most valuable player who had also spent four seasons playing pro ball in Japan.
In Ryu, Koo saw a special talent.
"I noticed right away he had a great frame and good control of his pitches," Koo said through an interpreter.
He also found Ryu to be persistent.
"When Ryu was a rookie, for the first month, he used to follow me around, asking me to teach him the changeup," Koo said. "So we started to play catch together."
Koo laughed when recalling how quickly Ryu learned to throw the pitch.
"Within 30 minutes, his was almost as good as mine," Koo said.
Asked if Koo was a particularly effective teacher, Ryu smiled and said, "I think I learned it really well and perfected it."
Ryu was joking, but it's hard to dispute his version of the story. "He just has a great ability to learn and pick things up," Koo said.
The results were immediate.
Ryu had a record of 18-6 with a 2.23 earned-run average with the Eagles that season, earning the Korean Baseball Organization's most valuable player award.
Koo thinks Ryu's physical features made him particularly well suited to throw the changeup. Ryu is 6 feet 2 and has wide shoulders, but Koo pointed out that he has relatively small hands.
"The changeup is the perfect pitch for his hand," Koo said. "He's able to grip it perfectly. For him, it's better than the slider or the curve. He has more control over it."
Ryu is able to pinpoint not only the location, but also the speed.
"Because he has smaller hands, he can throw that slow changeup," Koo said. "If you have bigger hands, you can still throw a changeup but it would be a faster changeup."
Over the last year, Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis has become familiar with Ryu's trademark pitch and what he can do with it.
"Ryu will throw a softer changeup at 77, then come back with a harder change at 83-84," Ellis said.
Koo remained with the Eagles until 2010, when he moved to Australia to pitch for the Sydney Blue Sox. Ryu departed for the United States three years later.