Royals 9, Dodgers 4

Claudio Vargas pitched decently, Eric Milton pitched poorly, and the fifth spot remains as wide open to anyone who is willing to step up and grab it as it has been since this whole marathon started more than five weeks ago. One guy who WON’T be the fifth starter is Josh Lindblom, but he continued to impress in his second Cactus League appearance, once again setting down six of the seven batters he faced. He struck out three of them — Luis Hernandez, Miguel Olivo and Willie Bloomquist — in succession. … On the offensive side, Blake DeWitt had a big night, going 3 for 5. Delwyn Young had two hits, raising his average to .289, and if the Dodgers end up placing him on waivers, there is a very good chance he won’t get through and that he will wind up in the uniform of a different organization. But if this club carries only four OFs, and it is beginning to look as if they will, DY is as good as gone because he is out of options. Xavier Paul went 0 for 3, but is still hitting .395. Juan Castro went 0 for 2 but it still hitting .429. … Dodgers fall to 11-11. At the Indians tomorrow, in Arizona’s OTHER new spring-training complex over in Goodyear.