Tag Archives: Andre Ethier

Shane Victorino talks about his future (and Carl Crawford’s).

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Shane Victorino was back in the lineup after missing Saturday’s game due to stiffness in his lower back.

He missed a lot while he was out.

Outfielder Carl Crawford, the least important (for this year, at least) of the four players the Dodgers acquired Saturday from Boston is signed through 2017. Crawford had Tommy John surgery Thursday and is out until March of next season at the earliest, so Victorino’s job in left field is safe for now.

A free agent at the end of the season, Victorino repeatedly expressed a desire to re-sign in Los Angeles after arriving July 31 in a trade from Philadelphia. Now, Crawford’s presence poses an obvious problem long-term: the Dodgers have three outfielders (Crawford, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp) under contract until at least 2017.

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Looking forward with Ned Colletti.

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It’s been true for some time that the Dodgers are in the market for a starting pitcher, a left-handed reliever, and a corner infielder. Scratch Carlos Lee’s name off the list of available players, though general manager Ned Colletti doesn’t necessarily believe that Lee’s trade to the Miami Marlins last week is a sure sign the market is heating up.

“For the sellers, there’s never a sense of urgency until you get to the 31st,” Colletti said, referring to the August 31 trade deadline. “The seller’s risk is injury. They can wait it out right until the bell.”

Injuries? The Dodgers have plenty of those.
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Kershaw: ‘I was looking around for where I was going to throw up on the field the whole time.’

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Don Mattingly declined to go into the specific symptoms of Clayton Kershaw’s stomach flu yesterday — for obvious reasons. It went without saying that Kershaw, who left his scheduled opening-day start after three innings, had to have had a compelling reason to call it a day after throwing just 39 pitches.

Wearing street clothes inside the visitors’ clubhouse Friday at Petco Park, Kerhsaw had no problem elaborating on his miserable opening day.

“Warming up was the worst part,” he said. “I was looking around for where I was going to be able to throw up on the field the whole time.”

Kershaw wanted to go back to his hotel room after exiting the game but said he “couldn’t really get up” after lying down in the tunnel leading to the clubhouse. After eventually getting up Kershaw said he threw up, showered, went home and “last night was not very much fun either.”

“I don’t really get sick,” he said. “I can’t even remember the last time I threw up. It was not a fun experience.”

The big question is, can Kershaw make his next scheduled start next Tuesday for the Dodgers’ home opener?
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Brewers 9, Dodgers 4; Dodgers 6, Cubs 3.

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Tempers flared in a loss to the Brewers in Glendale, and the Dodgers rapped out 11 hits to beat the Cubs in Mesa, in the team’s final day of split-squad action in spring training.

Both benches were warned in the sixth inning of a 9-4 loss to Milwaukee after Dodgers starter Chris Capuano threw a pitch behind Ryan Braun. That followed a series of hit batters –one (Norichika Aoki) by Capuano and two (Jerry Hairston Jr. and Juan Rivera) by Milwaukee pitchers earlier in the game.

That was the end of the drama, however, and the Brewers scored eight runs over the final three innings to erase a 4-2 deficit.

Capuano allowed two hits, one (earned) run on a solo shot by Braun, walked one and struck out seven in six innings. His Cactus League ERA stands at 2.75. Matt Guerrier relieved him in the seventh inning and gave up a 3-run home run to the first batter he faced, Brooks Conrad, in his first game since March 11.

Guerrier was actually pitching his third game in five days, including minor-league games, and afterward declared himself free of any back pain and healthy to start the season.

“As far as I am concerned, (the injury) was over a week ago,” he said.

The Brewers’ Carlos Gomez hit a three-run home run off losing pitcher Jamey Wright in the seventh inning. Todd Coffey gave up three hits and four runs — none earned, thanks to a Jake Lemmerman error –in two-thirds of an inning. His spring ERA ballooned to 7.71.

Andre Ethier doubled and homered in four at-bats, giving him 15 extra-base hits among his 18 this spring.
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Dodgers 4, White Sox 3.

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Jerry Sands‘ walk-off single drove in pinch-runner Elian Herrera in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Dodgers (11-8-4) to the win before 5,816 at Camelback Ranch. [box score]

Sands’ single was just his sixth hit in 38 Cactus League at-bats, and it came at a critical time as the roster is trimmed in advance of opening day.

“I’ve been feeling pretty brutal just trying to work on some things,” Sands said. “Changes here and there, just trying to get comfortable now after making some changes, all kinds of stuff. Just trying to get rhythm and timing after making changes is the hardest thing.

With two strikes against him, Sands lined a single into left field that Kosuke Fukudome could not field cleanly, allowing Herrera to score easily from second base. It was only the sixth hit by the Dodgers all afternoon, as starter Chad Billingsley allowed 11 hits in his 5 2/3 innings of work.

All of those hits were singles, however, and Chicago left nine runners on base. Billingsley also walked two and struck out five.

Dee Gordon stole two bases, giving him a major league-leading 10 this spring. Andre Ethier‘s fifth-inning double was his eighth, tying him for the major league lead with a pair of luminaries, Lorenzo Cain and Matt Carpenter.

A few more notes:

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Dodgers 7, Brewers 6.

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The Dodgers got three hits from Dee Gordon, two from Mark Ellis and Matt Kemp, and overcame a rocky start before an announced crowd of 6,348 at Camelback Ranch. [box score]

Starter Chad Billingsley pitched 4 2/3 innings and allowed five hits, three runs (all earned), walked two and struck out four. He also issued a wild pitch and left with the score tied 3-3. He threw 86 pitches — more than any Dodgers starter this spring — and 57 went for strikes.

The right-hander served up a two-run home run to Brooks Conrad in the second inning on a curveball, though Billingsley said the pitch was otherwise working well for him. “I was executing pitches, missing some of them,” he said. “You win some, you lose some.”

Andre Ethier hit his second home run of the spring, a two-run blast in the fifth inning, giving him 10 extra-base hits among 11 this spring. He is hitting .440. Ellis’ sixth-inning double down the left-field line drove in the Dodgers’ sixth and seventh runs.

A few more notes:
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Indians 4, Dodgers 3.

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Clayton Kershaw allowed his first run of the spring but overall appeared to be in opening-day form, while the Dodgers’ bullpen struggled in a loss before 3,101 at Goodyear Ballpark. [box score]

Kershaw allowed three hits, walked two and struck out five in 5 1/3 innings in his third spring start. He exited just shy of 80 pitches, which was his limit; Dodgers manager Don Mattingly mistakenly said Kershaw would be limited to 90 earlier Monday.

Javy Guerra entered an immediately served up a long home run to Carlos Santana, the former Dodgers prospect. Kenley Jansen threw a scoreless seventh inning, but Scott Elbert allowed two runs (on two singles and a walk) in the eighth inning.

That proved to be the difference, as the Dodgers’ two-run, ninth inning rally fell short. Justin Sellers went 3-for-4 and five others collected one hit apiece. Some notable 0-fers: Jerry Hairston (0-3), Juan Rivera (0-3) and James Loney (0-2, walk).

A few more notes:

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Rockies 8, Dodgers 6.

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The Dodgers rallied from a four-run ninth-inning deficit before losing, 8-6, to the Colorado Rockies on Saturday before an announced crowd of 12,465 at Salt River Fields. [box score]

Tim Wheeler‘s two-run, walk-off home run off Logan Bawcom — a reserve reliever from the Dodgers’ minor-league camp — ended the game.

Dodgers starter Nate Eovaldi threw three innings, allowing four hits, no walks and striking out one. His fastball reached into the mid-90s — per the in-house radar reading at Salt River Fields — in his third spring appearance.

Most impressively, Eovaldi was able to work out of some jams to preserve the shutout. He allowed a leadoff single in the second inning that led to a first-and-third, one-out bind, but struck out Wil Nieves and inducing a groundout by Guthrie to end the inning.

Eric Young and Marco Scutaro singled to lead off the third inning. Each moved up a base with one out, but Eovaldi escaped this jam, too.
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Dodgers 5, Rangers 2.

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James Loney, back in the lineup after being sidelined by a strained calf muscle, went 2-for-3 with his first home run of the spring in a 5-2 win over the Texas Rangers before an announced crowd of 11,082 at Camelback Ranch. [box score]

“James was out a couple days, came right back and looked exactly the same,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “Seems like he’s confident. Should be an interesting year for him.”

Loney is hitting .357/..471/1.113 with four RBIs in four at-bats.

Juan Rivera and Juan Uribe also had two hits apiece as the Dodgers (8-3-2) started their expected opening-day lineup against the Rangers’ Greg Reynolds. The right-hander lasted three innings, giving up seven hits, four runs (four earned), walking one and striking out two.

Starter Ted Lilly allowed one hit — a triple — and no runs in four innings of work
against the Rangers. The left-hander struck out two, walked none and threw 27
of his 44 pitches for strikes.

Lilly said the results “were probably better than I threw the ball,” but the manager liked what he saw.

“His stuff is crisper right now than it was last year for sure,” Mattingly said.

Javy Guerra, Scott Elbert, Wilfredo Ledezma and Scott Rice threw scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Kenley Jansen allowed both Texas runs, on solo home runs by Brandon Snyder and Alberto Gonzalez.

A few more notes:

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Updates on Ethier, Sellers.

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Andre Ethier’s absence was an easily overlooked facet to a crazy game in Peoria. Ethier was a late lineup scratch due to “mid-back stiffness” that he experienced during batting practice Saturday morning.

“I talked to Dre,” Mattingly said. “He said ‘I didn’t get stretched out.’

“They treated him and let him go home. We’ll see him tomorrow morning.”

The manager expressed only mild concern that Ethier recently complained of a stiff back during the team’s first full-squad workout of the spring. Ethier was already scheduled to sit out tomorrow’s game against the Cubs and that won’t change.

Justin Sellers left Saturday’s game complaining of a headache after being struck in the chin by a batted ball in the third inning. “Doctors cleared him and sent him home,” Mattingly said. “Last I heard, there was no concussion.”