Okay, I'm not Ansel Adams, but the scene at the Coliseum is pretty cool (it's currently a little after 8:00 pm, and I thought I'd share a few pics from down on the field before the game.  Incidentally, the play of the night?  Dustin Pedroia caught stealing in the fourth... 2-8.  Don't see that everyday. Andrew Jones slapped that tag down pretty quick!

UPDATE:  Okay, I know the formatting is totally off, but I can't seem to fix it.  You'll have to use your imaginations.  The stuff is pretty self-explanatory. 

BK

I start with something you don't see much at the Coliseum- blue.  In fact, this guy is the bluest dude I've ever seen.  Bluer than Rebecca Romijn in the X Men movies.  

When the Diamondbacks won the NL West title last season, the surprise came not so much in the success- Arizona had assembled some of the best young talent in the league- but that it came so fast.  A year or two before I expected it, for sure, and I know I'm not alone.  This year, the challenge for Arizona will be to prove '07 wasn't a fluke.  There are definitely reasons to be suspicious.  Despite all their talent, Arizona had a negative run differential (-20, meaning they allowed 20 more runs than they scored), one of the reasons that- not that I can do the math- the eggheads translated their stats into an expected 79-83 record.  Their offense was near the bottom of the National League in average, OBP, and runs scored, and the D-Backs benefited from being incredibly good, or incredibly lucky, or both, in one-run games, going 32-20. 

So on one hand, there's all that stuff. On the other, the Diamondbacks improved this year by trading for Oakland's Dan Haren, and it's not unreasonable to think their young sticks will show some growth and produce more offense.  So how does it all shake out?  Click below to read more.

Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus took a look at the Blue earlier this week as part of his peek into lessons learned from ST, and had some interesting observations on how the Blue might dole out playing time between the vets and kids.  Obviously things will play out over the course of the season, but at least according to Sheehan, early indications will be pleasing to many fans:

"The Dodgers might be all right. Without fanfare, without declarations, and with a minimum of drama, Joe Torre seems to be coming around to what outsiders have been saying all winter: Juan Pierre is his fourth outfielder. As March has progressed, as the three players make it very clear in which order they should receive playing time, Torre has said as little as possible about the situation, but increasingly doled out starts to Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp at Pierre’s expense.

The biggest fear in the Dodgers’ hiring of Torre is that the preference for experience he showed in the latter half of his Yankees tenure would carry over, and lead him to play Pierre over better players. It doesn’t appear that is going to happen, and while the situation will have to be managed, better to manage a personnel situation and play the right guys than solve the happiness issue by making the baseball team worse.

The parallels between Juan Pierre and Luis Gonzalez are interesting. Gonzalez had a longstanding reputation as one of the good guys in the game, and I’ve no doubt that, outside of a baseball uniform, he earns that. In Arizona in 2006 and in Los Angeles in 2007, however, Gonzalez was a divisive presence the moment his playing time was reduced. Pierre, also by acclamation one of the game’s better people, now finds himself in the same spot, and by all accounts, is grousing a bit about it.

To me, it goes to the whole notion of how players get labels, and how worthless those labels are in practice. Regardless, Torre has to put the best team on the field, and he appears prepared to do that. This decision bodes well for a future one on Andy LaRoche, who is a much better player than the current version of Nomar Garciaparra, and should similarly get the playing time ahead of the veteran once his thumb heals."

BK

Okay, not that one, although I doubt it's set up for baseball any more awkwardly than the one the Blue will be using tonight for their landmark exhibition against the Red Sox. It'll be a great treat for young fans who never saw baseball played at the Coliseum, and a trip down memory lane for those who did. Unless, of course, they happen to be former Dodgers, in which case they'd probably just as soon forget life before Dodger Stadium.  It's a chance to take in the history of the team in the city, from the good- the winning ways of Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda, the legendary Dodgers infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey, or the incredible tandem of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale- to the less attractive, lesser known impact of bringing the team west, illustrated in this piece by the LAT's Kevin Baxter on residents displaced by the stadium, a part of LA history I certainly didn't know. 

On the field, there are still a few t's to cross and i's to dot, though some issues have been worked out.  Esteban Loaiza won't have to worry about pitching around the Coliseum's goofy dimensions to preserve his fifth starter status- the job is his, Joe Torre announced Friday.   Jeff Kent should be good to go, assuming nothing goofy happens in between today and Monday, after playing five innings and doubling in two ABs during  L.A.'s 3-1 win over the Sox.  Nomar Garciaparra, however, will start the season on the DL.  No major shock there. 

Stopped by the Ravine to get the early word on, well, anything that might be going on as we approach Opening Day, and did get a few nuggets of info from Joe Torre.  Quotes/audio or something similar hopefully to follow, but in the meantime, here's what we know:

• Esteban Loaiza is the fifth starter.  No real shock there, but it's no longer an open question. 
• Chan Ho Park has a "very good chance" of making the team in the bullpen.  Which I took to mean he'll be making the team in the bullpen. UPDATE: Perhaps I spoke too soon?  Dylan Hernandez of the LAT reports that Park might be sent back to AAA to build up his arm strength, in case he's called upon to start with the big club, rather than start the year as a long reliever.
  
• Torre said he didn't know yet how he's going to handle the OF situation, and hasn't come to any conclusions.  He expects he'll make somebody upset, and is okay with that.  To paraphrase, he'd rather have guys who are upset about not playing than dudes who take it well.  But he wouldn't say if they're headed for a platoon situation, a rotation of three guys in two spots, or anything specific.  I'm starting to believe, though, that they're leaning towards giving Ethier more PT.  Just a hunch, based on nothing more than my gut.
• Again, not a big shock, but Nomar Garciaparra will indeed start the season on the DL.
• Nobody wears Maui Jim's like Joe Torre wears Maui Jim's. 
• I might be wrong, but I think Joe lost a little weight during Spring Training.  And whatever he lost, Tommy gained. 
• Andy LaRoche was fielding ground balls... with his right hand in a splint, and keeping it a very healthy distance away from the ball. 
• There's more new paint in the expanded concourses (which look great, by the way) to give people a contact high.  Any huffers among the season ticket pool are gonna be psyched.

BK

In some ways, the Dodgers can say they made it to the postseason in '07.  After all, while the homer Takashi Saito surrendered to Todd Helton to give the Rockies a 9-8 win over the Blue on September 18th effectively ended L.A.'s postseason hopes, it can be argued that the game helped propel the Rockies to their miracle run through September and October, where they won, if memory serves, a billion games in a row before being mowed down by the Red Sox.  So a little piece of Blue went to the Series with them, right?  Maybe not.  Anyway, the 90 wins Colorado posted last season was easily a franchise best, and with basically the same team returning in '08 expectations are high... mile high you might say.  (I apologize for that one.)

But while there's no question the Rockies would dust any team in the NL West in a game of Home Run Derby, or a Score Runs Derby, or simply the Have an Offense That Isn't Dicey In Some Way, Shape, or Form Derby, they're hardly runaway favorites to take the West this year, thanks to what is likely the shakiest pitching staff in the NL West.  Not that it's a train wreck, but given the arm strength of the Dodgers, D-Backs, Padres, and even the G-Men, Colorado easily brings up the rear. 

So how does it play out at Coors?  Click below to find out. 

A few issues today.  First, if anyone was still clinging to hope that the preseason version of the Freeway Series matters in anything beyond a "How is my team playing?" kind of way, well, I'm sorry to disappoint.  If the lack of buzz surrounding Thursday's ten inning, 2-2 tie in Anaheim is any indication, it's time to stick a fork into that aspect of the local rivalry.  As for the onfield issues, in his final preseason tune up, Derek Lowe allowed three hits, including a two run jack to Vlad Guerrero in the first inning, and walked a batter over his three frames of work.  He'll round out the spring with a 5.73 ERA.  Hong-Chih Kuo pitched well, striking out three over two innings of work.  Takashi Saito managed to escape the fourth without allowing a run, though he did give up a triple to Howie Kendrick, as he attempts to work through the injury issues that have plagued him this spring.  Speaking of injuries:

• Sorry timber cutters, pilots, structural metal workers, and fishermen, third base for the Blue is officially the most dangerous job on Earth, or so it seems.  Tony Abreu will start the season on the DL, joining Andy LaRoche and Nomar Garciaparra on the shelf, and making Blake DeWitt the likely starter on Opening Day, mostly because he's not injured.      
• Meanwhile, Jeff Kent is still a question mark to open the season in the lineup because of his strained right hammy- Chin-Lung Hu would likely fill in for him- but the influx of infield injuries (say that five times fast) means the Blue might have to carry an extra glove man... meaning no space for a guy like situational lefty Mike Myers, who was released on Thursday.
• In other news, Andre Ethier continued to separate himself from Juan Pierre, at least as far as Spring Training performance goes, in the battle for left field.  He had a hit in four at bats, but Ethier's D was the story as he made a leaping catch at the wall, and also threw out two runners.  Pierre went 0-5, and is hitting .179 in the preseason.  (Apparently, Tony Jackson at the Daily News has come around to our line of thinking...)
  
• Those of you showing up to Dodger Stadium tonight will be greeted with new, wider concourses and food offerings.  Tommy likes it, but he's biased.  Let us know what you think. 

BK

A friend of mine sent me these, from the Interweb.  They're part of a series of baseball instructional video spoofs/promos for Easton called "Hardball Made Easy", featuring Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier.  Both very funny, especially the Kemp Klip.  Fun twist, too- I used to play ball with the guy who plays the "coach" in the sketches.

Much was made of the Dodgers' final spring training in Vero.  The magic of Dodgertown, the ghosts bouncing around its fields, the history that can never be replicated.  Except there was the lingering chance that the Blue would end up having to return next season if their Glendale, Arizona facility wasn't finished in time for Spring Training '09.  No more.  The Dodgers have been assured everything will be good to go in the desert, and is expected to formally opt out of their Dodgertown lease ASAP.  Hopefully next ST will be a little more mellow for Joe Torre and his team.  In the meantime, Torre will try to show that managing a Major League baseball team can actually still be fun.  Look for clown noses and an assortment of pregame wigs. 

The anticipation is building for Saturday's Coliseum game, but don't forget, the Blue still have a couple games to play in between, starting with tonight in Anaheim.  Derek Lowe will get his final tune up before next week's real games begin. 

I think we're all excited about the Coliseum game, at least from the perspective of witnessing a unique game brimming with nostalgic appeal.  One thing I think we're all not particularly excited about?  Trying to fight 115,000 people for parking down there.  With that in mind, the Dodgers released some helpful info on that front- click below for the release.

BK