Medical updates
It was a tough day yesterday in Vero, with Furcal and Repko both going down to injury. Furcal’s ankle is a little less swollen today, but he’ll have an MRI in the next day or so to gauge the extent of the damage. He’s optimistic that he’ll be back by Opening Day, but it still remains to be seen. Tomorrow in Ft. Lauderdale, Grady is going to give Tony Abreu the start at shortstop, as both he and Wilson Valdez would be the key possibilities to replace Furcal, if necessary. Valdez already had a walk, two hits and two stolen bases today here in Jupiter.
As for Jason Repko, he’s getting an MRI right now and hopefully we’ll know more later today. We’ll continue to cross our fingers that he’s okay, but fortunately there are guys like Bigbie looking for a spot on the team so if Jason has to miss time, at least there are options.
The other bit of news is that Hong-Chih Kuo felt some pain in the back of his shoulder in his last outing and had an MRI yesterday and he’s going to be out for a little while. We’re not sure of a timetable, but it’s unlikely at this point he’d be the fifth guy in the rotation.
That’s about all from here right now. Since I got back to Vero Beach on Monday morning, we had been outscored 36-3, so I’m glad to see we’ve put five runs on the board already today. Derek Lowe looks great and hopefully the team is getting back on track at the right time, with the Freeway Series less than a week away.
Oh, one more thing. Compliments of Josh Cumming, our radio engineer/producer for KFWB, the Marshall McDougall whose name you have seen in a few box scores this spring is the same one who played for the Rangers in the big leagues, briefly, and who once went 7-for-7 with six homers, 16 RBI and 25 total bases in a collegiate game for Florida State.
Inside the Dodgers 
I’m pleased to hear that Tony Abreu was able to recover from his shoulder injury so quickly. It looked a lot worse on TV. Anyway, he’s going to be terrific at some point and if he gets a shot at subbing for Furcal, that’s some great big league experience right away.
BILLINGSLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After Lowe gave up two doubles to open the game, Lowe (5 2/3 inn), Beimel (1/3 inn), Saito (1 inn) and Broxton (1 inn) have gone 8 innings of no-hit ball.
And Matt Kemp just hit his first home run of the spring, 6-2 Dodgers.
And Billingsley finishes things off by striking out two in the 9th. Dodgers win 6-2 and after the two doubles in the first inning, the Dodgers pitched 9 innings of no-hit baseball against the Marlins’ close to opening day lineup.
Billingsley is having a FANTASTIC spring. Someone please tell Ned/Grady that his time is now. Makes no sense for his talents to be relegated to the pen.
Looks like we have a few less guys for Ned to trade now. Oh well at least we have them to fill in !! It might be for the best though, if we can go a few weeks into the season without trading some of these guys we might get more for them when our regulars come back. Just a thought.
With Bigbie it plays up large becasue if we keep him on the opening day rooster he doesn’t opt out ( like Drew ). And with Valdez out of options it allows us to keep him and not send Loney to down.
This was a good day for Dodger Baseball 6-2 Final Score !!!
Go Ned !
Go Dodgers !!!
Grady said he’s waiting for someone to pull away from the rest of the pack. I don’t see how Bills and his 0.87 ERA is not considered that.
Josh, what did the MRI show on Kuo? Also I always thought that your 5 best pitchers were supposed to be your starters. That would mean Bills should be in the rotation. I hope Abreu gets to show what he can do,maybe he can play 3rd when Raffy comes back if Betemit tanks?
The trades are starting, Atlanta just trades Pena Jr. to the Royals. http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070323&content_id=1856161&vkey=spt2007news&fext=.jsp
I’ll bet Ned is busy !!!
Go Ned !!
Go Dodgers !!
if billingsley hasnt broken away from the rest of the pack, i dont know what pack gradys talking about. we got plenty of guys that can do bills job out of the pen. we dont have guys that can do what bills has been doing this spring. that curveball he was throwing against the mets the other night on tv was filthy. if hes not the 5 starter to start the season, ned and grady need to be examined by a sports psychologist.
…..this spring starting pitching wise.
Any updates on Penny’s shoulder?
looks like its between tomko and hendrickson for the 5th spot. what a crying shame.
the way Grittle wants to use Bills is just mind blowingly stupid. Looks like i need to start making my “Fire Grady” shirts.
I can’t decide if I want a fire Grady or Fire Ned shirt more… its a toss up.
eh Ned’s done a good job so far Minus the Pierre signing. Grady is just dumber then a bag of rocks
Kevin when you’re done reading the above dialogue go ahead and hit us with that catchphrase…
So let me make sure I understand you guys, having Bills in the pen is a bad thing huh??? I for one love seeing the guy in the pen, becasue then when one of our starting 5 gets in trouble early we have a GREAT LONG RELIEVER !!! To me that’s a good thing !!! Especially given the fact that Tomko and Henderickson both are trade bait. Grady turned this team around last year and got us into the playoffs and you guys are calling for his job. Seems to me that your the one that’s “dumber then a bag of rocks” !!
Get behind your team and support the entire team and stop whinning !!
And as a great philospher once said “Calendar Check!! :o)”
Go Ned !!
Go Dodgers !!
More than happy to accommodate your request Alex…
Hey Guys! Calendar check!! :o)
Gary… I’m still hoping to, as you said the other night, trust in the Blue and in the 40 man rooster.
So Gary… if you say so, I will trust in the 40 man rooster! lol…
Harold, ASQ, ****, Pats, Ray etc… – Where are you guys ???? Your leaving Kevin and us out here wondering what your up to !! Check in would you please !!!
Go Ned !!
Go Dodgers !!!
Saying Grady is dumber than a bag of rocks is pretty stupid. Why even waste my time? Having bills in the spot he is in will use him more frequently that once every five days which will be great for him and for the team. Grady and Ned completely turned our team around IN ONE YEAR!!! Lets call it quits will the hysterics…
Think about it- would you rather have Tomko pitch 3-4 times a week or billingsly? You know what’s right…
Let’s talk about Repko. Don’t you guys think that maybe the Dodgers would be better served with a guy like Bigbie as our fourth outfielder? Don’t get me wrong, I like Repko’s style of play and he has all the tools. But it seems to me his body can’t stand up to the way he plays the game. I mean the guy has been snake bit since 2000. Any thoughts?
“would you rather have Tomko pitch 3-4 times a week or billingsly?”
Not an apples-to-apples comparison. If Tomko pitches three times a week, we’re significantly behind in the 4th, 5th or 6th much too much. If Bills pitches three times a week, we’re ahead, tied or really close in the 7th, trying to get to Broxton and Saito.
I’d rather have Bills making three starts every two weeks, that’s maybe 18 innings. Middle relievers that are used a lot average 7 to 8 innings every two weeks. Who do YOU want to see pitching more innings, Bills or Bomko?
typo: should be 16 innings.
Tomko and Bills are interchangable here– one is the fifth starter, the other is the “6-7 inning guy”. I don’t know why you would think that Bills or Tomko in the setup-setup role would not pitch 3 times a week? In six to seven games a week? I guarantee Bills will be used at least 3 times a week– he is a starter, they want to get him his innings. AND, he can pitch to all hitters at any time. There will be games (towards the beginning of the year, bc he will be starting after 30 games) where he pitches the 6th AND 7th inning in multiple games a week.
Also, the only way a fifth starter would realistically get three starts in two weeks is if their start fell on sunday or monday– five other days of the week make three starts in two weeks not a common occurance.
So basically calling for gradys and/or Neds firing is completely ridiculous, no matter how you cut it…