Brett's Big Five (3.26)

It's official. Brett Tomko has won the horse race for the Dodgers' fifth starter spot by a few lengths over Mark Hendrickson and Hong-Chih Kuo, who pulled up lame on the backstretch (while he'll require a couple weeks on the DL, Kuo will presumably not be sent to the glue factory). While he hasn't blown people away this spring (5.14 ERA), Tomko was solid in his early starts last season (5-1, 2.88 over his first eight games). Together with his preference for starting and Kuo's injury, it was enough to tip the scales in his favor. Hendrickson will pitch in long relief (no pun intended, mercifully), but things aren't looking so bright for Elmer Dessens. With Grady Little still looking to carry 11 pitchers, his spot on what is shaping up to be a very sold staff may have been sucked up by Rudy Seanez. Hoping not to be left out in the cold with Elmer are James Loney and Larry Bigbie, both of whom continue to rip the cover off the ball. Bigbie knocked in the winning runs in yesterday's 4-3 win over the Indians, the fourth run coming courtesy of Loney, who had three hits. How the fourth outfielder situation will shake out depends a little on Jason Repko ... and his prognosis doesn't look good. Oh well, Ned Colletti will just have to continue turning over the roster, like he did when bringing in that suck-up Luis Gonzalez.