Tag Archives: Matt Guerrier

Injury updates on Guerrier, Rivera.

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A couple notes and quotes that won’t make it to print in their entirety …

Matt Guerrier was in the Dodger clubhouse but out of uniform Tuesday night after an MRI earlier in the day revealed no ligament damage in his right elbow. He was diagnosed with tendinitis and placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 19.

“For a little bit I thought I was getting back into it, so I pitched through it hoping it would get better,” he said.

By the end of spring training, he added, the injury “was really minor at that point. I was hoping it would work its way out. It didn’t.”

Guerrier confirmed that he would have been available to pitch in an emergency situation Monday night against the Atlanta Braves. But with his recovery period from each outing taking longer than expected, Guerrier agreed it was best to rest.

“You start to put other guys in tough positions in the ‘pen when every day after I pitch I need a day off,” he said.

Continue reading “Injury updates on Guerrier, Rivera.” »

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.
Continue reading “Brewers 9, Dodgers 4; Dodgers 6, Cubs 3.” »

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 5, Cubs 0.

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Ted Lilly (1-1) threw three shutout innings and a four-run second inning lifted the Dodgers to their second shutout victory in three days before an announced crowd of 10,380 at Camelback Ranch. [box score]

Lilly allowed one hit, a single, and walked one in his second appearance of the spring.

“I treated this game more like a regular-season game. The only pitch I didn’t throw much or well is my slider,” Lilly said, adding that the slider was “ineffective” against his former team.

The Dodgers needed only seven hits. Two came off the bat of Trent Oeltjen, including a hustle double on a routine grounder up the middle that made Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd look lazy. Matt Guerrier, Todd Coffey, Mike MacDougal, John Grabow, Alberto Castillo and Will Savage all threw scoreless innings out of the bullpen. None has allowed a run so far this spring.

Guerrier made it interesting by loading the bases in the fourth inning on three walks, but he got out of his own jam. After the game, manager Don Mattingly had nothing but praise for Guerrier: “Last year [the movement on his pitches] looked more side to side. This year it’s late,” Mattingly said.

As for the team’s 4-1-2 Cactus League record?

“Last year I’m saying that they don’t really matter and we’re losing,” the manager said, “and it’s the same this year.”

A few more notes:
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