Well, my spring break is over. I read a book, I got to hear Andy Brickley swear on live TV, and I’m still a traitor to my family name because I hate the Montreal Canadiens. But enough about me and hockey. How about them Dodgers?
Unsurprisingly, the Dodgers’ season will open with some of its most important players down for the count. Andy LaRoche is out for maybe ten weeks with torn ligaments in his hand, Nomar broke his hand (who had March 14 in the pool?), and Old Man Kent is out with a sore hamstring.
What a shocker.
So that leaves us where, exactly? Well, at least at this second, the lineup is Martin at catcher, Loney-?-Furcal-? in the infield, and some combination of Pierre, Jones, Kemp, and Ethier in the outfield. Wow, that’s totally rock solid! Torre apparently hasn’t decided whether or not to bench the Nine Million Dollar Man even though he’s hitting -.042 and Ethier is on an absolute tear. Yes, I know spring statistics don’t mean anything, but come on. Anyway, the infield’s the bigger problem. Our remaining choices basically amount to this:
* Blake DeWitt, who hasn’t played a game above AA.
* Tony Abreu, the backup 2B who could be playing 3B.
* Chin-Lung Hu, whose name puts Vin Scully into Unstoppable Abbott & Costello Mode.
* Ramon Martinez. Need I say more?
The late, great Ned Martin had a catchphrase that I think is appropriate right now: Oh, mercy.
Of course, this isn’t permanent. Still, people will say that “it’s only April,” but really, the games count as much now as they do in September. LA’s first four series are against division rivals, and three of those are against San Diego (two) and Arizona. The slack must be picked up in order to have any wiggle room at all down the stretch. And if the Dodgers have needed anything the last few years, it’s wiggle room. So let us wallow in our own paranoia and the fear that we will be the Cubs of the twenty-first century.
This is not a fun way to enter the season.
But cheer up, Dodgers fans! We open at home next Monday against San Francisco. That’s what it’s all about, right? Baseball is almost back, baby, and you gotta love it regardless of the lineup your team is putting out there.* And don’t forget to tune into KCAL this Saturday to see the exhibition game against Boston in the LA Memorial Coliseum. Check back a couple of posts on this blog if you missed my exhilarating story about the Coliseum. Really, you don’t know what you’re missing.
* May not be applicable to Giants fans.
