Just wanted to pass along the great news that Jeff Kent has signed a one-year extension with an option for 2008. This is a great way to finish out our time in Vero Beach and hopefully get us going on the right foot as we head west.

I personally think this deal says a lot about the direction of the team and we’re all extremely optimistic about the season, with Opening Day just five days away.

So this is it. Our final day in Dodgertown and while everyone can’t wait for the season to start, it’s always a little sad saying goodbye to this incredible complex. For those who haven’t been here, you should start planning your trip for 2007, as this is truly a unique experience unlike any other in baseball.

Today’s lineup against the Nationals includes Dioner Navarro, who’s back in the lineup after straining his hamstring last week.

Kenny Lofton, CF; Jose Cruz, LF; J.D. Drew, RF; Jeff Kent, 2B; Nomar Garciaparra, 1B; Bill Mueller, 3B; Ramon Martinez, SS; Dioner Navarro, C; Derek Lowe, P

Throughout the spring, I’ve had the chance to highlight some of the stories by our beat writers, but I’ve been getting a hard time from Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register about not plugging him on the blog. He’s done a nice job covering the team this spring and for the past couple years, so be sure to take a look at his coverage on a regular basis.

I’m hoping to add a little more later this morning if news warrants…

Another good win today, as Jae Seo looked awesome on the mound. Rafael Furcal’s back tightened up, though, so he left the game early and is listed as day-to-day. We’re all hoping it’s nothing serious and right now, we have no reason to believe it’s bad, but you never like to see one of your top players go down to an injury in the final days of spring.

Meanwhile, ESPN has put out its predictions for 2006. It’s pretty cool to see that nine of 15 people picked the Dodgers to win the West and Rob Neyer picked us to beat the Twins in the Fall Classic. While these are only predictions, is does make you feel good about the way people view the team heading into the season.

One more game left in Vero before we head to Vegas. Even though we spend a lot of time time here and people like to joke about "being ready to go home," we’ll certainly miss this place. Craig Callan and his staff take incredible care of us in our second home and we’re extremely grateful for all their hard work.

Today’s lineup could be what you’ll see on April 3:

Furcal, SS; Lofton, CF; Drew, RF; Kent, 2B; Garciaparra, 1B; Mueller, 3B; Cruz, LF; Alomar, C; Seo, P;

Also, in response to some of the questions on the blog, this site will definitely be kept up throughout the season. We’re hoping to update it a couple times a day, but there will be times when it’s more often and times when it’s less often. It will definitely have the starting lineup before any other site on the Internet, so be sure to check in every day.

In regards to Vin Scully and his travel schedule, Vin travels with us for all games against NL West teams during the season, so he obviously doesn’t go East of Colorado. During the spring, he has been kind enough to do all the games for KCAL, so was here this weekend and will meet the team in Las Vegas tomorrow, where he’ll do the game from Cashman Stadium. He also handles all home games.

And finally, I can’t say that I know how Nomar’s health will be this season, but so far he’s been in great shape and seems to be enjoying the move over to first base. He made an incredible play there the other day and as a former shorstop playing first base, we can probably expect to see a lot of that from him this season.

Things are winding down out here. Final decisions are still being made and to respond to one of the comments, no, there has not been a decision on Joel Guzman, but I’m sure it’s getting close. Four more players were sent out today to the minor league camp and we’re down to 34 guys.

In today’s game, the team had 19 hits and Brett Tomko hit a homer, which he says is his first since Little League. Grady said after the game that he had turned to Dave Jauss, the bench coach, right before Tomko hit it and said, "I bet he’s going to be the first Dodger pitcher to homer this year," and Dave said, "I just hope it’s not before April 3." The next pitch, bam, it was gone.

We’ve got two more home games and then we fly out to Las Vegas on Wednesday night. As some of you might have seen in the commercials, KCAL has hired the Blue Man Group to do their TV spots, so several of the guys on the team and a bunch of us staff members are going to head to the show when we get in town. Should be pretty fun.

Otherwise, keep up the great chatter. It’s great to see 13 comments on a single post, even though it was mostly about Jeff Weaver. I can say that Jeff is actually a great guy and we’re all very disappointed he’s not back here with the Dodgers. However, as Ned has said many times, the asking price and the offer were simply too far apart to be able to get something done. Unfortunately, that’s the business of this game and hopefully Jeff will have continued health and success elsewhere.

In Port St. Lucie, we’ll have:

Oscar Robles, SS; Jason Repko, CF; Joel Guzman, LF; Olmedo Saenz, 1B; Cody Ross, RF; Willy Aybar, 3B; Ramon Martinez, 2B; Russell Martin, C, Brett Tomko, P

Back in L.A., fans will get the chance to see something pretty close to the Opening Day lineup on KCAL 9:

Furcal, SS; Lofton, CF; Drew, RF; Kent, 2B; Garciaparra, 1B; Mueller, 3B; Cruz, LF; Borders, C; Sele, P;

What was interesting was our switch of today’s starting pitcher. Odalis Perez was scheduled to start, but Grady Little realized that Odalis is starting against the Braves in the third game of the season and he didn’t want them to get a good look at him right before they faced him for real. It’s "little" things like this that really do make a difference once the season starts and it’s "little" things like this that make me certain we hired the right guy in Grady. (Sorry for the bad puns, it’s early).

For today’s game at Jupiter, here’s what we’ve got: Oscar Robles, 2B; Ramon Martinez, SS; Joel Guzman, LF; Olmedo Saenz, 1B; Ricky Ledee, RF; Willy Aybar, 3B; Jason Repko, CF; Russell Martin, C; Brad Penny, P.

With the World Baseball Classic fresh in the minds of baseball fans, it’s interesting that today’s starting lineup features players from five different countries and Puerto Rico. Oscar Robles (Mexico), Ricky Ledee (Puerto Rico), Joel Guzman and Willy Aybar (Dominican Republic), Olmedo Saenz (Panama), Russell Martin (Canada) and Jason Repko and Brad Penny (United States) will all start today’s game. Starting shortstop Ramon Martinez was born in Philadelphia but resides in Puerto Rico, while the first six batters in the lineup are all native Spanish-speakers. Martin is fluent in French and English, having grown up in Montreal, Quebec.

Also, in response to one fan’s question about whether or not Nomar’s been getting enough reps at first, it’s safe to say he’s had plenty.  He’s played 75 innings over there, more than any other Dodger this spring. That’s actually more than any other player at any position (Joel Guzman, who’s also learning a new position, is second with 73 innings in left field). Let’s hope that it translates to success during the year.

Though we still have five more days in Vero Beach, the huge truck that departs for Los Angeles will leave Dodgertown tomorrow at noon, so we packed up the office tonight, leaving only what we need for the last few days.

For the clubhouse attendants, this is a ton of labor and few people realize just how hard these guys work every day. Mitch Poole, Jerry Turner, Alex Torres and Jose "Peps" Castillo deserve a big time salute from everyone in the organization.

In the PR department, we had countless boxes of media guides from every team around the leagues, plus plenty of boxes of our own guides. But the biggest load was more than 200 dozen baseballs, which the players were kind enough to sign for various charities around the city. When the boxes were in my office, it practically filled the place wall to wall, so it feels pretty empty in here right now.

The NCAA tourney also brought some excitement to Dodgertown. Scores were being announced over the PA system at Holman Stadium all night and the Villanova/BC game that went into overtime was a huge hit in the clubhouse. Twenty-five players/coaches/staff members stuck around late to see how it would turn out and it didn’t disappoint, with a last-minute shot accounting for the win.

Of course, it was also a sad day at Dodgertown, as our minor league pitcher, Orlando Rodriguez was involved in a tragic car accident last night. Our hearts go out to everyone involved.

 

For tonight against the Marlins: Rafael Furcal, SS; Kenny Lofton, CF; J.D. Drew, RF; Jeff Kent, 2B; Nomar Garciaparra, 1B; Bill Mueller, 3B; Jose Cruz Jr. LF; Sandy Alomar Jr., C; Derek Lowe, P.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Opening Day…