The Lakers sign Blake DeWitt!!

Oh, wait.  He was just attending Lakers practice yesterday, along with several young players (Chin-lung Hu and Ramon Troncoso among the more notable names) in the Dodger organization.  I got a little face time with the incumbent second baseman to talk about his offseason work, the Memphis Grizzlies (the adopted team of the Sikeston, Mo., native) and how well teammate and former hoops phenom Matt Kemp would have fared scrimmaging with the Lakers.  In terms of the first item, DeWitt says he's not really overwhelmed at the notion of entering the season as the incumbent second baseman for the Dodgers -- a notable jump from last season's projection of AA Jacksonville -- outside of simply growing more comfortable playing out of his natural position (third).  Along those lines, he's just working on mechanics, getting stronger and applying the knowledge soaked up during an eye-opening rookie campaign.  "As a player, you can't let up for a second.  You've got to work even harder.  There's no guarantees and there's always somebody fighting for your job or you're fighting for their job.  It's a never-ending process."

Also, if DeWitt's vote matters to the McCourt family, he's down for "Man Ram era, Part Deux."