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.    

But whether or not Jason Repko did the proper exercise before last Friday's game, the prognosis for his ensuing hamstring injury ain't good. A session under the knife could be looming, although the team's gonna seek out a second opinion before confirming any O.R. appointments. Either way, it'll be quite a while before Repko takes the field to do anything other than high five teammates. Fellow walking wounded Rafael Furcal's absence should be considerably shorter, but Grady Little's still auditioning candidates to fill in for the time being. Rudy Seanez seems to want club membership badly enough that he'd volunteer to play short, but for the time being, his arm is keeping him in the mix for a roster spot. But if he doesn't make the cut, he'll likely retire, as opposed to throwing a fit because he didn't get his way. You listening, Brad Penny?

Because judging by his track record after getting on the Hong-Chih Kuo bandwagon, BK's thumbs up is the kiss of death.  He may even be a legit mush. 

Kuo, whose last couple outings were struggles, just got an MRI back revealing an inflammation in his throwing shoulder.  Since Kuo steadfastly and selfishly refuses to learn to throw righty (or because Grady Little hasn't asked him to, one or the other), he'll have to shut it down for a bit, meaning he can't compete for the fifth starting spot come opening day.  He's also lucky that while Little may serve as a father figure of sorts for his players, he isn't (to the best of our knowledge) Kuo's actual dad.  Otherwise, Skip might have grounded the lefty for not letting the team know about the discomfort in his shoulder.  Gritting it out may be admirable, but it ain't always the best thing for the squad.  When Kuo is eventually ready to pitch, he'll likely follow up Vegas sessions with time in the pen, which is looking rock solid at the moment. 

Because our readers are intelligent, literate repositories of baseball and Dodgers knowledge (how's that for a shameless suckup!) we assume that from time to time you guys like to hear from folks slightly less clownish than your Blue Notes hosts.  So we've reached out to other baseball writers around the the hardball world about issues of import to Dodgers fans, and as the responses come in we'll pass them along.  Yesterday afternoon, we got one back from Will Carroll, with Baseball Prospectus and ESPN.com.  Will's specialty is injuries, and since the Dodgers were a M.A.S.H. unit last season, we figured he'd be a good source to try and get a handle on L.A.'s injury prospects for '07.  Below are his responses to our emailed questions.  Additional banter will be passed along as it lands in the Blue Notes inbox...

BK

The good news is that the Dodgers lost 8-0 to the Baltimore Orioles. 

"Good news?" cries the incredulous Dodger fan, blue heart aghast and offended at such a statement.

Well, when the other news nuggets from the day had Rafael Furcal and Jason Repko almost colliding on a play in which the shortstop was left with a bum ankle that threatens his opening day status, while Repko walked away unscathed... only to injure his hammy two innings later in potentially more serious fashion than Furcal, then yeah, relatively speaking, a bad spring training box score feels like reason to celebrate.  As does the news that Furcal's ankle was only sprained, not broken.  And there was "good-ish" news of sorts for Wilson Valdez, James Loney and/or Larry Bigbie, since Repko's anticipated prolonged absence may create a roster opening for one of them (although we doubt they're thrilled about the circumstances).   As for the game itself, the Dodgers mustered up a mere quartet of hits, and Brett Tomko, gunning for the fifth spot in the rotation, was in "Bombko" mode.  Oh, and lest we forget, Hong-Chih Kuo's shoulder is buggin'. 

So aside from all that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?

Brad Penny was done before he even started Wednesday (literally and figuratively), sitting out a scheduled start against the Mets due to an irritated shoulder. Were this a regular season showdown, the hard-throwing Okie would have likely taken the mound, but that didn't seem necessary for spring training. And the accompanying MRI revealed no serious damage, so no worries on that count. The hurling in place of Penny? Worries. The 6-2 loss featured Hong-Chih Kuo suffering his second straight beat down and  exhibiting a wilder nature than that ex-"American Idol" chick who likes to take naughty photos. The follow-up from Elmer Dessens and Tim Hamulack didn't pretty up the box score any better, prompting Grady Little to warn his staff about making any assumptions heading into the regular season. The main one being, "Don't assume you've made the squad, jackass."

The news of Grady Little getting his option for '08 picked up (along with one for 2009 entering the mix) was the source of great comfort and ease for the North Carolina product.  Unfortunately, the hands used by Little to receive congratulatory handshakes were eventually wringing themselves nervously upon watching his squad get spanked 13-0 by the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.  Mark Hendrickson, vying for the still up for grabs fifth starter slot, set the game's tone by littering the box score with 4 runs in five innings, but he's not losing sleep over the kinks being worked out during the Florida sessions.  For that matter, Jason Schmidt's early lack of velocity isn't keeping people up at night, either.  But even if these issues do plague the Blue during the regular season, it'll be a new experience coming and going at Dodger Stadium to see it all happening.

Did you enjoy Grady Little's first season as Dodger skip?  Hope so, because Little's 2008 option was just  exercised by the club and in a sign of good faith, an option was added for 2009.  What does all this mean?  Well, it provides me more opportunity to work out a perfect imitation of Little's "Sling Blade-esque" voice, one of my 2006 goals that I unfortunately lost sight of about halfway during the season.  By September, I had it down okay, but not great.  This season, I plan on maintaining my focus and keeping my eyes on the prize.

And on a more baseball-ish note, I like this move by the Blue.  While some Dodger fans have relayed some displeasure from time to time regarding Little's in-game moves and decisions (and I've been critical on occasion as well), the guy is outstanding when it comes to player relationships.  His ability to build trust and confidence but still give honest assessments is often a tough balance other coaches or managers can't find.  Plus, the dude is unflappable.  Last season, he started out with a brand new roster, finished the season with an entirely different new roster, dealt with the mother of all slumps and rarely failed to find the most positive (but still realistic) spin on his situation.  Over an exhausting 162-game season chock full of ups and downs, that means something.  And as someone who's been around the team before doing the blog, I can tell you that the clubhouse mood last season was considerably better than the previous few.  Is that entirely the result of Little's presence?  Hardly. But I doubt it's a mere coincidence.  Is Little the "perfect" manager?  Probably not.  But he's been good for this team, so I think Ned Colletti made a good call riding this out and seeing where it goes. 

But that's just my take.  What say you, as the pompous Bill O'Reilly would say.

AK   

For a quartet of innings against the Nationals, Randy Wolf appeared exactly like the (relatively speaking) low-priced comeback guy the Dodgers were hoping for when they signed him coming off elbow surgery. But generally speaking, a fifth inning always follows a fourth in Major League Baseball, and Wolf's involvement in that inning led to three runs and set up a 9-1 loss to Washington. His buddy Jonathon Broxton fared even worse, getting lit up for five runs, hopefully just the effect of not pitching for more than a week.  Whatever the cause, dude was missing his target like a drunken bombardier.  The box score?  Not all that pretty.

Any Dodger fan is familiar with the name "Andy La Roche." They've all heard tales of an infielder oozing potential, particularly with the stick.  And while there's absolutely no reason not to believe in said future, whether "present" can be used in the deceptions remains a question mark, especially after a 5-0 loss to the Indians featuring some poor fielding by ALR. La Roche's throwing error (along with Chin-Lung Hu's bungle) messed up a solid hurling effort by likely opening day starter Derek Lowe. It's the seventh miscue of spring training for La Roche, which has Grady Little wondering if the lad is focusing too hard on making an impression.  Well, if that's the case, first base coach Mariano Duncan would take it, since it reflects the kid concentrating on much of anything while minding the hot corner.  All of this wouldn't be so troubling, were it not coupled with a .222 BA, which got a bit of a boost after adding a hit to the box score.  LaRoche managed to avoid a trip back to Vegas (presumably in Matt White's private jet made entirely of solid platinum, imported silk and caviar), but like his man Chad Billingsley, adjustments are in order.