Dodgers Notes from Spring Training: Spring Game 1 / Home Game 1

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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 Chicago White Sox (0-0) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (0-0)

LHP Jose Quintana (0-0) vs. LHP Erik Bedard (0-0)

Wednesday, March 4, 2015 – 12:05 p.m. PT | Camelback Ranch – Glendale

TV: SNLA Radio: AM 570 (Eng.), KTNQ 1020 AM (Span.)

(Dodger lineup, via ESPN reporter Mark Saxon on twitter)

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(Puig, pic via Juan Ocampo/LA Dodgers 2015)

HEY, NEIGHBOR!: The Dodgers open up Cactus League play and their seventh season at Camelback Ranch – Glendale today against the Chicago White Sox. Los Angeles will play 31 exhibition games this spring, including 15 games at Camelback Ranch and 26 total Cactus League contests, in addition to two games against the Rangers in San Antonio and the three-game Freeway Series against the Angels.

• The Dodgers have gone 2-5 in their Cactus League openers since re-locating Spring Training to the desert in 2009, including dropping both split-squad contests in 2011.

HEY, NEW GUY: Since the end of the 2014 season, the Dodgers have added 19 new players to the 40-man roster, including  Jimmy Rollins, Howie Kendrick, Yasmani Grandal and Chris Heisey, who will make their debuts with the club this afternoon. Of the pitchers expected to throw in today’s contest, only Carlos Frias has previously pitched for the Dodgers.

• Rollins is batting in his familiar leadoff spot today and ranks fourth on the all-time list with 46 career leadoff home runs, behind only Rickey Henderson (81), Alfonso Soriano (54) and Craig Biggio (53). Rollins also ranks among active players in career hits (2,306, 7th) and stolen bases (453, 4th).

ON THE MOUND: Non-roster left-hander Erik Bedard will make his Dodger debut today after spending the 2014 season in the Tampa Bay organization, going 4-6 with a 4.76 ERA in 17 games (15 starts) with the Rays and making one start with Triple-A Durham. Bedard has averaged 8.60 strikeouts per 9.0 innings and has posted a 2.34 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 241 career big league games (230 games) over 11 seasons with Baltimore (2005-07), Seattle (2008-09, ’11), Boston (2011), Pittsburgh (2012), Houston (2013) and Tampa Bay (2014).

• RHP Carlos Frias is expected to appear in today’s game after seeing his first big league action last year, going 1-1 with a 6.12 ERA in 15 games (two starts) during two stints with the Dodgers. In his 13 relief appearances in the Majors last year, he limited opponents to a .205 batting average (20-for-98) with 25 strikeouts against only six walks and posted a 1.01 WHIP in 25.2 innings.
• RHP Juan Nicasio will don Dodger blue for the first time in a game today after he was acquired from Colorado on Nov. 24, 2014 in exchange for minor league outfielder Noel Cuevas. Nicasio, 28, appeared in 33 games for the Rockies last year and saw his first career action out of the bullpen, where he went 1-1 with a 3.48 ERA (8 ER/20.2 IP) and tossed scoreless relief in 14 of his 19 appearances.
• RHP Sergio Santos, a former first-round pick of the D-backs in 2002, will make his Dodger debut today after spending the last three seasons with the Blue Jays.  Santos, a converted shortstop, will be facing his former White Sox teammates today after making his MLB debut with the club in 2010 and saving a career-high 30 games for Chicago in 2011.
• 27-year-old LHP Adam Liberatore was acquired in a trade with the Rays on Nov. 20, 2014, which also brought RHP Joel Peralta to Los Angeles, and had a career year for Triple-A Durham last year, going 6-1 with four saves and a 1.66 ERA in 54 games. In parts of three seasons at the Triple-A level, Liberatore has gone 12-5 with a 2.40 ERA, a 1.09 WHIP and an average of 10.8 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
• RHP Josh Ravin, a graduate of Chatsworth High School, is in his second season in the Dodger organization after combining to go 2-1 with six saves and a 3.55 ERA in 23 relief appearances for Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Albuquerque last year. Ravin is entering his 10th professional season and was originally selected by Cincinnati in the fifth round of the 2006 draft.
• The Dodgers have three additional pitchers suiting up today from the minor league side: LHP Jeremy Horst (#97), RHP Jeremy Kehrt (#87) and RHP Blake Smith (#91).

(Getting Puig's signature, pic via LA Times photographer Luis Sinco on twitter)

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