Day 10 Spring Training Report

Day 10 notes from Spring Training.

• LET’S GET IT STARTED: The Dodgers open up their 34-game Cactus League slate with a pair of split-squad road games with one team playing the Giants in Scottsdale and the other taking on the Angels in Tempe. Today’s matchup is the first of three trips that the Dodgers will make to Scottsdale Stadium this spring with the Giants busing over to Glendale on March 4. Los Angeles went 11-17-2 in Cactus League play last season.
• BALLERS: Dodger non-roster right-hander Tim Redding will get the start against the Giants this afternoon after spending the 2010 season with the Yankees’ and Rockies’ organizations, going a combined 8-5 with a 2.89 ERA in 18 games (17 starts) at the Triple-A level. The 33-year-old hopes to continue his season-ending hot streak, when he went 5-0 with a 0.83 ERA (4 ER/43.1 IP) over his final six games with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Redding will be followed to the hill by RHP Carlos Monasterios, RHP Oscar Villarreal, RHP Jon Huber and LHP Wilkin De La Rosa.

(Pic Link: TwitPic phantomring)

• IT’S TIME FOR DONNIE BASEBALL: Don Mattingly will manage his first official Spring Training game for the Dodgers. Last year, while still the club’s hitting coach, the 49-year-old filled in as acting manager during Spring Training while Joe Torre managed a Dodger squad in Taiwan. Mattingly will become the 27^th manager in franchise history (ninth in Los Angeles) after seven seasons coaching under Torre and a 14-year playing career with the Yankees, when he compiled a .307 batting average with 222 homers, 1,099 RBI, nine Rawlings Gold Gloves, six All-Star selections, a batting title (1984, AL) and a selection as the 1985 American League Most Valuable Player.

• TEMPE THROWDOWN: Another squad of Dodgers will open the spring season this afternoon in Tempe against the Angels. RHP Hiroki Kuroda will make his first start of the spring and is scheduled to be followed by RHP Rubby De La Rosa, LHP Scott Elbert, RHP Lance Cormier, RHP Roman Colon and RHP Luis Vasquez. Triple-A Albuquerque Manager Lorenzo Bundy will call the shots in Tempe against the Angels with Mattingly in Scottsdale.

(Pic Link: Plixi Dodgers)

• CONGRATULATIONS, VIN: Dodger Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully will be honored with a lifetime achievement award and a city certificate tomorrow at the Beverly Hills Wine Festival. The mayor of Beverly Hills will be on hand for the ceremony which will recognize Scully’s dedication and contributions to Los Angeles.

• HIGH NUMBERS: The Dodgers will be sending 11 minor leaguers to today’s game in Scottsdale, including former Giants right-hander Merkin Valdez. Outfielders Brian Cavazos-Galvez, who homered in his only 2010 Spring Training at-bat and was selected as a Baseball America Low Class-A All-Star with Single-A Great Lakes last season, and 2009 Midwest League co-MVP Kyle Russell will also be making the trip along with third base coach Tim Wallach’s son, catcher Matt Wallach.

• ON THE AIR: Today’s game can be heard back in Los Angeles on 790 KABC as Charley Steiner will have the call today in the first of 17 Spring Training games that will be broadcast on the Dodger Radio Network. Tomorrow’s home opener against the Angels will be the first of 15 Dodger Spring Training games on television with 12 on PRIME TICKET and three on KCAL 9, and for the first time ever, all of them will be broadcast in high definition.

• NEWEST DODGER: Congratulations to Dodger Minor League Video Coordinator Matt Lawrence and his wife Heather on the birth of his first child, Caitlin Lindsey, born yesterday afternoon! Caitlin weighed in 9 lbs. 4 oz. and measured 22 inches long.

• BROOKLYN BLUES: Yesterday, the Dodgers announced that they will wear the 1940s “satin” uniform during six mid-week day games in 2011. Nearly 50,000 votes were cast online with the winning powder blue Brooklyn uniform edging out the 1911 road uniform by less than 2,000 votes. Though the original uniforms worn in the 1940s were made of a high reflective satin fabric, the throwback jerseys worn in 2011 will be made of the same material and maintain the same feel as those worn by the Dodgers throughout the season. Six-game mini plans, which include all six throwback dates at half price, are available online at Dodgers.com/miniplans and tickets for each individual game are on sale now.

• WINNER, WINNER: Jonathan Broxton and Clayton Kershaw were honored on Thursday night at the 6^th Annual LA Sports Awards with Broxton’s save of the 2010 All-Star Game in Anaheim tying for the 10^th-Greatest Los Angeles Sports Moment of the year and Kershaw’s first career shutout, which came on Sept. 15 at San Francisco, being recognized as the greatest Dodger moment of the season. Don Newcombe represented the Dodgers at the star-studded event at The Beverly Hilton, which was hosted by the Los Angeles Sports Council.

Day 9 Spring Training Report

Here are some Day 9 notes from Dodgers Spring Training in Glendale.

• THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: The Dodgers concluded their final day of workouts, touching on pop fly communication and team defense before batting practice. Ted Lilly threw a session of live batting practice and Clayton Kershaw, Mike MacDougal, Blake Hawksworth, Ramon Troncoso, Kenley Jansen and Javy Guerra tossed bullpens.

• SPLITSVILLE: Tomorrow, two squads of Los Angeles Dodgers will head east on the I-10, with one team playing the Giants in Scottsdale and the other taking on the Angels in Tempe. In Scottsdale, Dodger right-handed hurler Tim Redding will get the start and is scheduled to be followed by RHP Carlos Monasterios, RHP Oscar Villarreal, RHP Jon Huber and LHP Wilkin De La Rosa. Over in Tempe, RHP Hiroki Kuroda will make his first start of the spring and is scheduled to be followed by RHP Rubby De La Rosa, LHP Scott Elbert, RHP Lance Cormier, RHP Roman Colon and RHP Luis Vasquez. Don Mattingly will manage the Dodger squad against the Giants, while Triple-A Albuquerque Manager Lorenzo Bundy will call the shots against the Angels.
  

(Pic Link: TwitPic Tommy Lasorda)

(Steve Yeager and Tommy Lasorda)

• THE X-FACTOR: The Dodgers would like to wish outfielder Xavier Paul a happy 26^th birthday. Paul shares his birthday with Dodger amateur scout Orsino Hill, who covers the Northern California area.

• WINNER, WINNER: Jonathan Broxton and Clayton Kershaw were honored last night at the 6^th Annual LA Sports Awards with Broxton’s save of the 2010 All-Star Game in Anaheim tying for the 10^th-Greatest Los Angeles Sports Moment of the year and Kershaw’s first career shutout, which came on Sept. 15 at San Francisco, being recognized as the greatest Dodger moment of the season. Don Newcombe represented the Dodgers at the star-studded event last night at The Beverly Hilton, which was hosted by the Los Angeles Sports Council.

(Pic Link: TwitPic Tommy Lasorda)

(Lenny Harris and Tommy Lasorda)

• BRING YOUR RESUME: The Dodgers and the Dodgers Dream Foundation will host the 16^th Annual Community Job Fair tomorrow from 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. on the Field Level Concourse at Dodger Stadium. Job seekers are invited to join more than 100 companies from the public and private sector at the event, which drew more than 10,000 participants a year ago with approximately 1,500 attendees finding employment.

(Pic Link: HitPix Dodgers)

(Matt Kemp signing for the fans)

• FIRST BALLOTT HALL OF GAMER: The Cartoon Network’s First Annual Hall of Game Awards will air tonight from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on the Cartoon Network. Dodger organist Nancy Bea Hefley played the organ for the red carpet at the event, which was hosted by skateboarding legend Tony Hawk and is the first-of-its kind sports and entertainment awards show for kids, honoring favorite sports stars and sports moments of the year. Award winners tonight will include Blake Griffin, Landon Donovan, Kobe Bryant, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards and Venus and Serena Williams and First Lady Michelle Obama will make a special taped appearance.

(Pic Link: LADesignGuy)

• IT’S ALMOST TIME: Single-game Dodger tickets will go on sale tomorrow, with fans having the opportunity to purchase a limited number of Opening Day tickets that will be available only at Dodger Stadium. Individual tickets will also be available for purchase starting at 10 a.m. online at dodgers.com/tickets
  or by calling 866-DODGERS. Fans are invited to celebrate the start of the 2011 season beginning at 8:00 a.m. in parking Lot P and enjoy their first Dodger Dog of the year for just $2. The Dodgers’ annual On Sale festivities will include music, trivia contests, new-for-2011 Dodger merchandise and will be hosted by KABC 790 TalkRadio’s morning host Peter Tilden. Additionally, fans that purchase at least one ticket at Dodger Stadium tomorrow will receive a fleece blanket.

• CHEESE!: This morning, the Dodgers held their annual photo day in which a bevy of entities snapped pictures of the 2011 Dodgers at Camelback Ranch - Glendale. Among those on site were the Associated Press, Getty Images, MLB Photos, Baseball Magazine Sha, Dodger broadcast partner KCAL 9, Topps and MLB.com.

(Pic Link: HitPix Dodgers)

Auto Collection: Billingsley Sweet Spot

When I got back into collecting about 6 years ago or so I initially focused my attention on vintage Baseball cards. I put together a 1972 Topps set and various other sets- going as far back as 1887. Heck, I still have a bunch of sets I'm still working on; including some sets I've finally reconciled that I may never complete. I had thought I would be done with collecting modern issues with their shiny gloss and endless parade of inserts that made me want to puke when I initially left the hobby.

Then, one day, I came across a Upper Deck's Sweet Spot autographs on eBay. I was instantly enamored. The idea of putting a piece of leather from a Baseball in a card with a players autographs just seemed brilliant. I had to have one in my hands. That became my reentry into the modern card market. Soon, I was tracking down any Dodger autographed card I could find.

I have several Sweet Spot cards in my collection and promise to eventually show them all here. For know, here is a 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot card of Chad Billingsley that has both silver (maybe satin?) stitching and a silver autograph of the pitcher. It is numbered 45 out of 58.

Blog Kiosk: 2/25/2011

"Gossip is just news running ahead of itself in a red satin dress." - Liz Smith, The Grand Dame of Dish

• Wrigley Wax pays homage to the classic Baseball movie "The Bad News Bears" with some homemade cards. All I got to say is that those uniforms would look better in Satin.
• The Japanese always get the cool stuff. A limited release "Satin Silver" PS3 game system was released earlier this month, via neoseeker.
• Kirsten Dunst looks great in satin.... and with a lion, via Huffington Post.
• Put your money on Satin Shoes in the Silver Slipper Stakes at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse this weekend.
• There's a guy named Satin, Josh Satin, in the Mets organization, which is kinda funny since the Mets are supposedly the replacement team for the Dodgers who actually wore satin on the field in the 1940's. I know... that's kind of a stretch, but do you know hard it is to find stories about satin? Do ya? OK, I'm done.

Woo Hoo! Satin Wins!

(credit: Jon SooHoo, Los Angeles Dodgers)

The final results are in as satin becomes the word of the day.

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced today that the 1940s “satin” uniform was selected by Dodger fans as the winning “throwback” uniforms for six mid-week day games in 2011. Each of the games will feature half-price food and drink, including alcoholic beverages, for the first time ever at Dodger Stadium, with a special half-price six-game ticket plan available for fans who want to attend each of the games.

Nearly 50,000 votes were cast at dodgers.com/throwback with the winning uniform edging out the 1911 road uniform by less than 2,000 votes.

Though the original uniform worn in the 1940s was made of a highly reflective satin fabric to make it more visible under the lights for night games, the throwback jerseys will maintain a similar feel as those worn by the Dodgers throughout the 2011 season.

Unfortunately, the uniforms won't have the same reflective qualities as the vintage brethren, but beggars can't be choosers.

(credit: Jon SooHoo, Los Angeles Dodgers)

2011 Topps: Even More Dodger Inserts

OK. I promise that this is my last post showing the various Dodger cards within the 2011 Topps set. There are far more I have failed to show, but, frankly, I'm getting bored of looking for them all.

These cards represent retail store exclusives available only at either Target or Walmart. These are Hanger Pack Exclusives. The blue design cards are from Walmart and the Red design cards are found at Target.

#WHP14 Roy Campanella

#WHP10 Jackie Robinson

#THP14 Andre Ethier

Here is another group of retail exclusive sets that can be found. Again, red background cards are from Target and blue background cards are from Walmart. There is also a Toys 'R Us set (in Purple), but no Dodgers are a part of that set.

RD10 - Jackie Robinson

RDT14 - Roy Campanella

BDW14 - Andre Ethier