Dodgers Blue Heaven: Feb 22, 2013

Throughout Spring Training the Dodgers PR department sends out helpful daily notes from Camelback Ranch, and I am happy to pass them along. See what they've written below.

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(pic credit: Jon Soo Hoo/LA Dodgers 2013)

SEVENTH HEAVEN: Today, the Dodgers held their seventh and final full-squad workout before beginning their 40-game exhibition schedule tomorrow against the White Sox. The team worked on pick offs and rundowns followed by Aaron Harang, Kenley Jansen and Javy Guerra throwing live BP. Chris Capuano, Chad Billingsley, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Paco Rodriguez all threw bullpens under the watchful eye of Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax.

The club will play 36 games in Arizona before playing its final four exhibition games in the greater Los Angeles area against the Angels and Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.
The Spring Training edition of Dodgers Magazine will debut tomorrow at Camelback Ranch and features the heart of the Dodger lineup on the cover; Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier. For those unable to pick one up in Glendale, magazines are also available online at Dodgers.com/magazine.

THIS IS GETTING REAL: Tomorrow is Opening Day at Camelback Ranch with the Dodgers taking on the White Sox for the first of three times during the Cactus League slate. Clayton Kershaw, the 2012 MLB ERA champ, will take the hill for Los Angeles against Chicago right-hander Dylan Axelrod, with RHP Mark Lowe, RHP Ronald Belisario, RHP Stephen Fife, RHP Matt Magill, LHP Kelvin De La Cruz and RHP Gregory Infante expected in relief.

With Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford likely having their first Cactus League action delayed until around March 1, Don Mattingly announced that tomorrow’s outfield would feature Andre Ethier in right field, Skip Schumaker in center field and Jerry Hairston Jr. in left field.
On Sunday, the two clubs will meet again at 1:05 pm local time (12:05 pm in Los Angeles) with starter Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu making their Dodger debuts against Chicago right-hander Erik Johnson.
The Dodgers have played the White Sox in four of the last five years during Interleague Play with Chicago holding a 7-5 advantage in the series.

(pic credit: Jon Soo Hoo/LA Dodgers 2013)

COULD BE LEGENDARY: Dodger alumni Ron Cey, Tim Leary, Fernando Valenzuela, Maury Wills and Steve Yeager will help celebrate a new season of Cactus League play at Camelback Ranch - Glendale’s inaugural Legends Weekend. Former greats from both the Dodgers (tomorrow) and White Sox (Sunday) franchises will be on hand to sign autographs and greet fans from 11:30 am-12:30 pm before being introduced in pregame ceremonies. I previously posted about the Legends Weekend last week- check out that information here.

CLASSIC BASEBALL: Yesterday, the final rosters were submitted for the 2013 World Baseball Classic with the Dodgers well represented in the once-every-four-year event with Adrian Gonzalez and Luis Cruz playing for Team Mexico, Hanley Ramirez for the Dominican Republic, Ronald Belisario for Venezuela and Nick Punto for Italy. In addition, former Dodger skipper Joe Torre will pilot the U.S. squad. Players will leave camp on or near March 1 with pool play for the World Baseball Classic beginning on March 2 in Taiwan and Japan and on March 7 in Pools C and D in Puerto Rico and Arizona.

Three places that Tommy Lasorda is likely to be found: Bucca di Beppo, Grimaldi’s and now the visiting clubhouse at Camelback Ranch, ever since it became occupied by Team Italy. The Italians will be here working out until March 5, when Team Mexico moves in prior to their exhibition game on Wednesday, March 6 at Camelback Ranch.
Charley Steiner will be calling the Pool D games in Phoenix for MLB International, featuring the United States, Mexico, Canada and Italy. Steiner will call the first of 16 Spring Training games on AM 570 Fox Sports Los Angeles tomorrow alongside Rick Monday, while Jaime Jarrin, Fernando Valenzuela and Pepe Yniguez can be heard in Spanish tomorrow on KTNQ 1020 AM.

YOU SEE THIS FACE?: Dodger center fielder Matt Kemp advanced to the finals of MLB Network’s #FaceofMLB contest on Twitter by defeating Atlanta’s Jason Heyward in yesterday’s vote. In tomorrow’s finals, Kemp will face the winner of today’s semifinal matchup of Andrew McCutchen and Joey Votto in MLB Network’s bracket to decide who is the Face of MLB. The current bracket matchups can be viewed here.

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How do you know that the Baseball season is upon us?

When a flurry of new Baseball card sets start arriving, one after another.

Earlier this week, Topps released their second 2013 Baseball card set, and it's called Turkey Red. If you do not already know, this set is fashioned after a 1910-1911 tobacco premium cabinet card set that was produced by Turkey Red brand cigarettes. They originally measured 5 3/4" x 8" in size and are highly sought after by vintage collectors for their tremendous artwork. Personally, I think they are the most attractive cards ever produced. I currently do not have any vintage Baseball players in my collection, but I do have a handful of boxers; including the great Jack Johnson. If you are interested in seeing some of the vintage versions of the set I suggest heading over to the T3 Turkey Red website run by a collector working on building a master set. Click here to go there.

These new Turkey Red cards were available only online through Topps and are the same size as todays modern Baseball cards. They sold out quickly and are already highly desired. BTW, in a couple of weeks Topps Heritage Baseball will be released, then Topps Tribute a couples of weeks after that, then Topps Gypsy Queen a couple of weeks after that.

Below are the Dodger cards in the base set. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any Dodger autographed cards in the set.

11 Clayton Kershaw