Inane ramblings on a slow news day

Other than Eric Stults having his best outing of the spring in this morning’s B game against the White Sox — three shutout innings, two hits — today has been a whole lot of nothing thus far. We do have pitching plans for the next few days. Claudio Vargas will start today’s game with the Rockies at CBR. Jason Schmidt, who requested an extra day because his body was tired, will now pitch at Oakland on Sunday, while Hiroki Kuroda will start the other half of that split-squad doubleheader at Seattle. … Oh, by the way, Justin Orenduff, who was designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and was outrighted to the minor leagues. … Dodgers are playing the Brewers in Maryvale in the real game, in a battle to determine which team’s general manager has the best cop ‘stache. Maryvale Baseball Park is in a blighted section of Phoenix, but it’s an otherwise-beautiful yard, one of my favorites in the Cactus League. Phoenix is an unusual city in that it has a mostly flat landscape, but there are several small mountains rising from the desert floor right in the middle of town. This ballpark offers a gorgeous view of some of those mountains. It’s also one of the shortest trips from CBR, just a few miles east on Camelback Road and then a few blocks south on 51st Avenue.