And with that said, we hope everyone and their loved ones got through yesterday's nasty inferno unscathed.  But for whatever it's worth, the Dodgers were just as hot while facing their crosstown rivals, putting a 13-4 beat down on the Artists formerly known as the Anaheim Angels.   From the moment Juan Pierre bunted a single (eventually converted into a run) to start the game, things were clicking for at a Blue-friendly rate, especially that homer from Wilson Betemit before the frame's finish.  Matt Kemp and Russell Martin went yard, complimenting the trio of hits from Pierre and Mia Hamm's baby daddy (and congrats to the family, by the way).  Even Jason Schmidt's low velocity rate didn't cause a hiccup, with the righty allowing just one earned run in four innings.  The trio of Rudy Seanez, Jonathon Broxton, and Takashi Saito added only blanks to the box score.  One hopes the Dodgers can keep this up, since they now lead the league in ticket price jacks.

Remember that scene in "Dazed and Confused" when Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey) delivers the classic line, "That's what I love about these high school girls, man.  I get older.  They stay the same age."  Well, replace Wooderson with Diamondbacks Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick , substitute "D-Backs roster" for "high school girls" (and remove the hilariously inappropriate context) and you've likely paraphrased the Arizona front office's opinion of their future.  The roster's core sports a low enough collective age that by the time they become steady and consistent Major Leaguers, they'll still have plenty of youthful production ahead of them as the honchos gather more gray in their locks.  Unfortunately, their net inexperience makes predicting their immediate future a crap shoot. 

Watching a catcher get run over at the plate in a spring training game is about as rare as seeing a player absorb a hard foul in the pregame layup line at a basketball game.  Just doesn't happen.  The exception proving the rule, of course, coming in Thursday night's 6-1 loss to the Angels at the Ravine.  L.A. South's Nick Gorneault blew through Dodgers backup backstop Mike Lieberthal in an eighth inning play at the plate, part of a three run inning charged to Joe Beimel.  The box score shows it was that kind of night for Blue lefties.  (Righties?  Not so bad.)  Starter Randy Wolf sandwiched two reasonably sharp innings around a butter knife second frame in which he surrendered three runs on four hits.  But it's spring training, so no worries.  Even the potential of missing Rafael Furcal for the first week of the season doesn't seem all that big a deal, given long march ahead.   

It's going to be an interesting year at PETCO, especially for fans of old school, pitcher-centric baseball.  And should said fans have a particular distaste for the long ball, all the better. Similar to a Catholic school dance, the Pads are constructed to prevent scoring, which is good because they'll produce runs like Peter Gabriel produces albums—rarely. In '06, only four teams scored fewer runs than the Friars.  Only seven hit fewer homers (fortunately for San Diego, three of them were the Rockies, D-Backs and Dodgers). They did manage to finish third among NL teams in stolen bases, but 49 of San Diego's 123 moved up north when the Giants signed Dave Roberts. 

The Dodgers will kick off another installment of the totally meaningless pre-season Freeway Series against the Angels tonight at the Ravine, with Randy Wolf on the hill for (geographically honest) L.A.  The lefty is one of a couple additions (Jason Schmidt the other) that has Grady Little feeling better about his rotation now than at this point last year. In fact, it's all about comfort right now. The Dodgers are comfortable enough with their depth, represented by the play of guys like Wilson Valdez, to let Rafael Furcal sit until his ankle is totally healed. Their mix of crafty vets and eager youngsters? All good, and hopefully integral to clubhouse chemistry that currently looks pretty good. Even Larry Bigbie is comfortable that he'll land in the bigs, even if the Dodgers don't keep him around.

84 games into last season, the Rockies were 44-40, and looked like they were on the way up.  Unfortunately, they had reached the season's mountaintop (Get it?  Mountain top?  Rockies?) and it was all downhill from there.  They finished the season at 76-86, still good enough for Colorado's best mark since winning 82 games in 2000... which indicates things in the Mile High City haven't been all peppermints and moon pies since Y2K. 

Juan Pierre knows how to return a favor.  Grady Little gives up his number for the new CF, and Pierre responds by giving his new skip a Yamaha motorcycle, perfect for cruising Carolina backroads.  Feel free to spend the next few hours trying to figure out how to do something nice for Pierre.  Apparently, it pays.  As does listening to Sandy Koufax, 'cause he was, like, totally good at pitching, as Brett Tomko recently had a chance to do.  And Tomko- solid yesterday against the Cardinals- will have time to soak up whatever advice the HOFer delivered, because despite winning the fifth starter spot, the schedule will keep him in the pen until April 10th.  Rafael Furcal likely won't be shelved that long, but if he is, Juan Pierre is ready to slide into the leadoff spot. 

Opening day is right around the corner, so it's a good time to check in on the state of the NL West.  The Dodgers look to be the class of the division, but we're no longer talking the laughing stock quintet of 2005, when San Diego's 82 wins were enough to take the pennant... by five games.  This year, every team in the west has a shot to be (in varying degrees, and with some requiring more luck than others) good to very good in '07.  Well, almost every team.  While the Dodgers, Padres, Rockies, and D-Backs are on the upswing, the Giants aren't.  In fact, the bunch that limped to a 76 wins last year have a good shot at losing 90 during this go 'round.   

Ignore the 39-pitch second inning, the three runs, and five walks in Monday's 6-5 loss to the Mets.  Brad Penny says he's never felt better- health wise, that is- and will be good to go when the real games roll around.  So he's all psyched up.  Less thrilled are James Loney and Andy LaRoche, who are very likely headed back to Vegas (woo, Vegas baby!), especially after the Blue picked up Brady Clark from the Brewers in exchange for Elmer Dessens.  Also in a touch of flux is Larry Bigbie, part of the lefty OF crew, who will find out soon enough if he'll be playing in blue this year (Dodger blue, specifically.  Technically, a lot of teams wear blue.), though the answer is almost certainly yes.  He's better off than Jason Repko, who is out for five months after shredding two of the three tendons that hold his hamstring to his pelvis, which sounds really, really painful.

T.J. Simers isn't sure how the new parking system at Dodger Stadium will work, but at least when fans figure it out, they'll get to cheer in one of baseball's best stadiums.   

The Dodgers picked up right-handed outfielder Brady Clark and cash considerations (that guy can really play) from the Brewers today for reliever Elmer Dessens. Assuming I can do the math correctly and the Dodgers keep 11 pitchers, this should clear up any remaining roster issues, and it likely means James Loney will have a few more chances to try and catch Prince playing at the Rio. I can't imagine after the spring he's had that the Dodgers will let Larry Bigbie go, and as much as it sucks for Loney, the Dodgers can't relish the notion of him riding pine three or four days a week. 

In terms of a pickup, this one works pretty well for the Dodgers. Rudy Seanez had squeezed Dessens out of a job, and should Seanez fail, there are plenty more arms to choose from. Clark is a much needed right-handed option in the outfield (the spot vacated by Jason Repko's hammy), assuming he can rebound from a relatively ugly '06. He can play all three positions, hits for decent average, plays defense and runs fairly well. Clark can be stuck in the everyday lineup without hurting anything, if need be, but also is used to platoon or reserve roles. So no worries, there. He stands to make $3.8 mil (minus whatever the Brewers are sending over), making him a reasonably priced option in the incredibly perverse relationship between sports salaries and reality.    

Pretty good news for the Dodgers, not so good for Loney. 

BK