Odalis Perez, Opening Night starter?
Submitted by Jeff on Sun, 03/16/2008 - 8:26am.
- Joe Torre and some of the Dodgers went to China this weekend to play the first-ever MLB exhibition games there against the Padres, but they more than enough starters behind in Florida to face the Nationals Saturday. Brad Penny allowed just one hit—a Pete Orr double—in five innings, while Dodgers got four RBIs from Andre Ethier and two from Rafael Furcal. Dodgers beat the Nats, 6-1 in Viera.
- Odalis Perez got the start for the Nats, and he felt good despite giving up four runs in 4.1 innings. Perez, trying to rebound from struggles in LA and Kansas City, "appears to have a hold" on a spot in the rotation. In fact, "it isn't that far-fetched" that he could start Opening Night, depending on the status of Shawn Hill and John Patterson.
- Ryan Zimmerman sat again Saturday as he recovers from tightness in right hip flexor. Manager Manny Acta said Zimmerman won't play today as well, when the team travels to Ft. Lauderdale to take on the Orioles.
- Shawn Hill had a good bullpen session on Saturday, throwing 25 pitches and experiencing no tightness in his right forearm. Also: Acta said that catcher Johnny Estrada will probably start the season on the DL, but Estrada said that his right elbow is recovering well and he hopes to play a minor league game next week.
- The Nats sent Kory Casto down to Triple-A on Saturday, where he will be the regular third baseman. Also reassigned to minor league camp were pitcher Arnie Muñoz and Steven Shell (who lived up to his name when he was shelled Friday, allowing three consecutive homers against the Indians).
- Barring a "national crisis", President Bush will throw out the first pitch at Nationals Park on Opening Night. Bush "has been warming up since December", Mark Lerner said. Hopefully it will turn out better than his dance moves.
- Team president Stan Kasten concedes that not everything may work smoothly at the new ballpark on Opening Night. "It's a hard way to open a building, but we're playing the cards we were dealt and we think we're going to get most of it done well." The team plans to sell a "limited number" of tickets for the game through an online lottery this week and may make 400 $5 day-of-game tickets available.