FanNation - The Republic of Sport

It’s the 11th and final day of my journey through the Grapefruit League, and I’m back in Jupiter for two of the NL’s most storied franchises, the Dodgers and Cardinals. The ride up Florida’s Turnpike from Fort Lauderdale was quite pleasant although the weather I left and the weather here in Northern Palm Beach County are iffy at best, with a cool breeze and lots of cloud cover. In other words, if you’re not sitting in those few spots where the sun is shining, it’s going to be brisk. Luckily today I beat the rush and have a pretty good seat in the pressbox (which luckily is fully protected by a screen). One other thing about the ride which would have to go under the “mixed impression” heading. The Turnpike is the corridor where all of South Florida’s trash is sent to spend eternity as part of a landfill. While the odor emanating from them is reminiscent of Eau du Dirty Diaper, the thousands of birds, big and small, predator and prey, that they attract is worth dealing with the stench. Hawks, eagles, vultures, and dozens of other species circleing around looking for a meal and it’s, pardon the pun, breathtaking (but no where near as cool as the Dolphin in Tampa).

These two franchises playing today have combined for 17,406 victories since 1900 and are responsible for 15 of the NL’s 42 total World Series titles, the most recent of which came two years ago from St. Louis. The Dodgers are operating as a full team for one of the last times this spring as they’ll split up for a series with the Padres in Beijing, China next weekend. Then the team will all reunite and join the Cactus League starting on Thursday the 20th. Since Joe Torre will be in China managing the travel team, longtime manager and Slim Fast spokesman Tommy Lasorda will once again bleed blue in an official capacity as he takes the helm of the domestic Dodgers.

Having been just down on the field for Dodgers BP, I can honestly tell you, as someone who grew up a Yankee fan and as a lifelong New Yorker, it is bizarre seeing spring training instructor Don Mattingly in anything other than a Yankees uniform. It doesn’t seem as weird with Torre in the Dodgers royal blue hat and warmup shirt since my first memories of him came as a Met, but Donnie Baseball in Dodger Blue is just plain confusing.

As for the action today: The Japanese media is out in force which for these two teams can mean only one thing, the Dodgers starting pitcher is Hiroki Kuroda, the first year major leaguer who had a career record of 103-89 and a 3.69 ERA in 11 seasons with the Hiroshima Carp. He’s created a buzz in Los Angeles after pitching four innings and allowing just two hits so far this spring. This will be my first-ever look the craftsman, someone more likely to get a grounder than a strikeout which should make him an excellent for with this team and I’m pretty excited about it.

The Dodgers lineup was just posted and it’s teeming with regulars. Leading off is Rafael Furcal at short, Russell Martin is next followed by James Loney, Andruw Jones, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Delwyn Young at second, Ramon Martinez at third and Jason Repko in left. Also making the trip for later insertion are Taiwanese shortstop Chin-Lung Hu and Ivan DeJesus Jr., the son of the former major league shortstop.  One player not here is third baseman Andy LaRoche who will be sidelined for eight to 10 weeks after being hit by a pitch in yesterday’s game, tearing a ligament in his thumb that requires surgery.

For the Cardinals it’s the very impressive Colby Rasmus leading off playing left today (instead of his usual center), the increasingly interesting Joe Mather batting second and playing first, Rick Ankiel in center, Troy Glaus at third, Juan Gonzalez at DH, Ryan Ludwick in right, Yadier Molina at catcher, Adam Kennedy playing second, Cesar Izturis at short and on the mound the man who until Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder return is the Cardinals second starter, ex- closer Braden Looper.

Check back one last time to see what happens today.