Dodgers Notes from Spring Training: Spring Game 17/Home Game 9

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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 Cincinnati Reds (4-12) at LOS ANGELES DODGERS (5-7-4)
Thursday, March 13, 2014 – 1:05 p.m. | Glendale
RHP Alfredo Simon (0-1, 5.00) vs. LHP Paul Maholm (0-0, 1.80)
Spring Game 17/Home Game 9
Television/Radio: SNLA/None

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(Dodger Fans!, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014)

COLOR WAR: The Dodgers and Reds face off for the second and final time this spring after Los Angeles scored a 10-3 win over Cincinnati in Goodyear on March 5. The Dodgers dropped the 2013 season series to the Reds, 4-3, but hold a 35-19 (.648) advantage over Cincinnati since 2006, which is the second-best mark among NL clubs in that span (Philadelphia, 36-19, .655).

• Los Angeles opens the 2014 season in just nine days against the D-backs in MLB’s Opening Series in Sydney, Australia.
• Outfielder Matt Kemp is scheduled to play in a minor league intrasquad game again today at 12:30 p.m. on the back fields of Camelback Ranch – Glendale. Kemp had six at-bats and played in the field for the first time yesterday in a minor league intrasquad game, playing six outs in center field, and ran the bases.
• Minor league position players suiting up today include RHP Red Patterson (#78), LHP Fu-Te Ni (#83), RHP Juan Gonzalez (#94), C Kyle Farmer (#92), INF Darnell Sweeney (#84), INF Ozzie Martinez (#87), INF Daniel Mayora (#88), INF Jamie Romak (#90), OF Jon Garcia (#89), OF Trayvon Robinson (#91) and OF Aaron Bates (#95).

(Matt Kemp, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014)

ON THE HILL: Paul Maholm will make his third appearance (second start) of the spring today after allowing one run on three hits in 3.0 innings on Saturday against the Rangers. The 31-year-old has allowed just one run in 5.0 innings (1.80 ERA) this spring, while limiting opposing hitters to a .235 batting average (4-for-17). During the course of his career, Maholm has been especially tough against lefties, holding them to a .225 batting average/.287 on-base percentage/.318 slugging percentage.

• Rule 5 hopeful Seth Rosin will make his fourth appearance today and has not allowed an earned run (one unearned) in 8.0 innings this spring. The 25-year-old last pitched on Saturday against the Rangers, allowing only an unearned run on one hit in 3.0 innings, and has limited opponents to a .161 batting average (5-for-31) this spring.

SPELL CHECK: Cuban infielder Erisbel Arruebarrena reported to Camelback Ranch for the first time today and met with the training staff, players, coaches and media on his first day in Dodger blue. Arruebarrena posted a .276 career batting average with 27 homers and 171 RBI in 437 games in six professional seasons for Cienfuegos in Cuba’s Serie Nacional. The 23-year-old was signed as a free agent on Feb. 22 and will wear uniform No. 11.

(Zack Greinke, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014)

FILLING OUT THE LINEUP CARD: Bench coach Tim Wallach will once again serve as manager today and Special Advisor to the GM Pat Corrales will be the club’s bench coach with Don Mattingly leaving camp due to a death in the family. Mattingly is expected to be back in Glendale tomorrow. Wallach managed the Dodgers’ Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes in 2009 and 2010 and guided them to a 152-135 (.530) record and an American Southern Division title in 2009.

• The Dodgers fell, 9-2, to the D-backs yesterday at Camelback Ranch. Zack Greinke made his second start of the spring and first appearance since throwing only four pitches (right calf injury) in his Cactus League debut on Feb. 27, and allowed three runs on six hits in 2.0 innings in a losing effort. Andre Ethier gave the Dodgers an early lead with his two-run double in the first inning, but that was the only scoring that Los Angeles could muster. Ethier finished the game 2-for-3 to raise his batting average to .357 this spring.
• In the fifth inning yesterday, Wallach issued the Dodgers’ first challenge of the spring under the new replay system. Following replay review, the umpires confirmed the call on the field that Didi Gregorius had kept his foot on second base during a slide on a stolen base attempt. It took 1:48 for the umpires to conduct the replay review. Los Angeles will have two more replay games in Cactus League play, March 15 at Chicago-AL and March 16 vs. Colorado, and the system will also be in place for all three Freeway Series games against the Angels.

ON DISPLAY: Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Hank Greenberg and Joe DiMaggio are among the baseball pioneers featured in a new exhibit that opens to the public today at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Hailed as the first large-scale exhibit focused on the role baseball plays in the lives of immigrant and minority communities seeking to express or challenge American culture, Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American features 130 baseball artifacts. Koufax is the centerpiece of the exhibit, which is open to the public until Oct. 26. The pitcher’s 1963 National League Cy Young Award is on display, as well as scorecards and tickets from his perfect game against the Cubs in '65, the cap he wore during his no-hitter against the Phillies in '64 and a ticket from his first no-hitter against the Mets in '62. There's also a mound where fans can put on a replica Koufax jersey and try to pitch like the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner.

(Pat Corrales and Tommy Lasorda, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014)

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