LOS ANGELES DODGERS CLIPSWEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014

LA TIMES

Baseball is a change-up for Sydney Cricket Ground

By Dylan Hernandez

SYDNEY, Australia — From behind home plate, the architect pointed at the outfield wall in the distance and explained one particular challenge of building a baseball field without desecrating the sacred earth beneath it."We had to build all this fencing and not put one stake in the ground," Scott Eggelton said.

Instead of stakes, Eggelton used 70 one-ton blocks of concrete to fortify the wall, ensuring it would be stable enough to absorb the impact of an outfielder crashing into it at full speed.

Eggelton saw Yasiel Puig last year on a business trip to Arizona and recognizes the Dodgers outfielder is a physical marvel. But if Puig and the wall collide, Eggelton has no doubt the wall will win.

"He'll hurt himself," Eggelton said. "I hope he doesn't."

The construction of the wall was one of several obstacles Eggelton overcame to prepare the Sydney Cricket Ground for Major League Baseball's season-opening, two-game series between the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks that starts Saturday.

Chief among the concerns was time. The 38,000-seat venue's final cricket game of the season was played Feb. 26.

"We started building Feb. 27," said Murray Cook, MLB's field and stadium consultant.

Tom Parker said that in his 18 years as the SCG's curator, he had never undertaken a project that required so much work in so little time.

"It was quite unbelievable," he said.

Complicating matters, there is only one point at which construction trucks could enter the field. The logistics of when trucks delivered or removed certain material from the grounds had to be carefully coordinated, according to Mark Warwick of the construction company Evergreen Turf.

The architects and construction workers not only had to move quickly, they had to be careful not to disturb the historic venue's elements.

Dating to the mid-19th century, the SCG is one of the world's most revered cricket venues. The ashes of players, umpires and fans are spread on these grounds.

The facility doubles as a historical monument. The various seating sections are named after Australian cricket legends. There is even a statue of a popular heckler in one of the stands.

The stadium's most famous features are down what will be the right-field line — the grandstands known as the Members Stand and the Lady Members Stand.

"It reminds me of Churchill Downs," Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said.

Ultimately, the SCG's history helped convince Parker, the curator, that the temporary renovations should be made.

The SCG has hosted tennis' Davis Cup. The stadium first hosted an American baseball team in 1888, when the Chicago White Sox stopped on a worldwide tour. This year marked the 100th anniversary of a subsequent visit by the White Sox.Still, Parker didn't want the integrity of the SCG to be compromised — particularly the pitch.

Situated in the middle of the ground, the pitch is a strip of hard clay with short grass that measures 90 feet by 90 feet. Most of the action in a cricket match takes place there. The bowler, cricket's equivalent of a pitcher, stands on one end. The batsman, or hitter, stands on the other.

Compared with the other parts of the ground, the pitch is harder and slightly elevated. Leveling the area was impermissible, according to Parker. In lieu of that, Cook called for the planting of longer grass.

The ground there remains rock-hard, which could present challenges to the center fielders on both teams.

"It's probably the quickest field I've ever seen," Diamondbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock said. "You go out there and throw a baseball, it just scoots off it."

Pollock said he might be reluctant to dive for a ball. Not for fear of injury, but for fear of turning a double into an inside-the-park home run.

Building the pitcher's mound was also problematic. Originally, a mound was constructed using Australian clay. The firmness was similar to that of mounds built with American clay.

However, Cook said, "Their firmness, they couldn't sustain a lot of wear and tear."

Clay was imported from Gail Materials, a company based in the Los Angeles area that services the mound at Dodger Stadium, as well as Petco Park in San Diego.

Several other features, including the backstop, dugouts, and clubhouses, had to be built from scratch.

Eggelton, the architect, looked over what will be the Dodgers' dugout and said, smiling, "The iterations on the drawings of this dugout, you would not believe. It doesn't look like much to you guys, it looks like a dugout, but no one in this country's ever built one."

From an American vantage point, the field has an extraordinary amount of foul territory because of the grounds' oval shape.

Seeing the field for the first time Tuesday, Dodgers first base coach Davey Lopes remarked that it reminded him of what Dodger Stadium was like when he was a player. He noted that an errant throw could result in a baserunner's taking two extra bases instead of one.

Of the contemporary stadiums, Mattingly compared it to the home field of the Oakland Athletics, which is also where the Oakland Raiders play football.

"It's a lot of ground down the lines and back toward the dugouts," Mattingly said. "You get some easy outs, some cheap outs."

To counter that effect, Cook placed the foul poles 328 feet from home plate. In most parks, that distance is about 335 feet.

"The pitchers get something, the hitters get something," Cook said. "Make it even."

The Dodgers noticed the ball traveled easily when they took batting practice Tuesday. Juan Uribe was transformed into Miguel Cabrera, launching balls into the second deck.

"It's good for offense, for sure," Mattingly said.

For the grounds crew, the completion of the series between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks will not mark the end of their work.

The crew has another project and, again, it will have to work fast. The venue will host its first rugby match of the season April 5.

MLB to media in Australia: Just smile and have a Vegemite sandwich

By Steve Dilbeck

So the Dodgers and Diamondbacks are in Australia to promote baseball as international sport. Guess that’s swell, though making it part of the regular season seems a hellacious idea.

But if Major League Baseball wants this pair of games to actually spur interest and grow the game Down Under, you would think they’d make it as media friendly as possible.

Instead of the opposite, which is more like what they’re doing.

Unlike every other regular season game, the media are not allowed in the clubhouses prior to a game in Sydney. Neither are they allowed in after the game. They have no clubhouse access at all.

Play your didgeridoo to that, mate.

MLB said the clubhouses at the Sydney Cricket Ground are just too small, which seems strange, since they were specially built for this series. And it’s hard to believe they could be any smaller than the visiting clubhouse at Wrigley Field, where players are not allowed to all inhale at once.

Media coverage will be carefully orchestrated. A MLB spokesman said postgame a half a dozen players will be brought into an interview room. And then there will be the dreaded “mixed zone” outside the clubhouse, where players will stand behind fences and talk to a crush of media. That’s if they feel like coming out.

News organizations spending thousands of dollars to cover these two games better hope their readers/views like plenty of color. You could capture most of that watching on television in your PJs. You know, like most bloggers. And there are fewer than a dozen media members from the U.S. in Sydney.

But if you want your media representative to be able to privately sidle up to a player in the postgame clubhouse to find out what he really thinks about that play in the eighth, forget it. Insight will be hard to come by.

This is the same way it’s done at the World Baseball Classic, the Olympics and at soccer’s World Cup, which is not the same as daily coverage of a team where relationships can become important.

Some years ago, MLB closed pregame clubhouses during the postseason, which I thought strange. They’re open postgame.

Our readers should be able to reap the benefit of Dylan Hernandez working the clubhouse, not leaving him too much time to figure out the difference between a wallaby and a wallaroo.

Carl Crawford leaves minor league game with 'minor' shoulder injury

By Steve Dilbeck

In today’s installment of back at the ranch, the news ain’t good. The Dodgers said it’s not really bad either, but it was enough for concern.

Carl Crawford, one of four Dodgers left behind at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix while the team opens the season in Australia, left a minor league game after one at-bat because of a sore right shoulder.

The Dodgers said it was “very minor.” He felt it during a strikeout and he was removed for precautionary reasons.Crawford, who remained behind while waiting for his fiancée to give birth, previously had missed most of the 2012 season after Tommy John surgery and then wrist surgery, both to his left arm.

He is one of four quality outfielders the Dodgers will have to find playing time for this season, assuming all four are healthy at the same time. No easy to assumption to make after last season, when it happened only twice.

Otherwise, the action in a triple-A game against the Mariners on Tuesday wasn’t too great, either. Right-hander Dan Haren went 4 2/3 innings, giving up five earned runs and five hits, two that were home runs. He walked one and struck out six.

Matt Kemp continued to struggle, going hitless in three at-bats. Reliever Brandon League is still in search of his command; he went one inning, giving up two runs on two hits and two walks.

DODGERS.COM

Life's a beach for Dodgers, Little Leaguers

By Doug Miller

SYDNEY -- The waves of the Tasman Sea were breaking in glassy blue and green tubes on another perfect Bondi Beach morning. Joggers were checking their watches while running up the promenade. Sunbathers flipped pages of books while wiggling their toes in the sand. Graffiti artists put another coat on the colorful boardwalk wall.

Not many of these Australian weekday revelers noticed when four members of the Los Angeles Dodgers descended stairs onto the beach, but the kids in the Little League uniforms sure did.

Wednesday morning at one of the Sydney area's most iconic strips of shoreline was all about baseball, even right in front of the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club.

Dodgers catchers Drew Butera and Tim Federowicz, reliever Chris Withrow and outfielder Mike Baxter got down onto Bondi and met the junior members of the Bosco Braves and Illawong Marlins, clubs from the South Sydney suburbs who are giving America's game a go.

While waiting for the big leaguers to arrive, Keegan Darby, a 9-year-old Illawong first baseman/second baseman who will next year receive his five-year award, explained why he prefers to play baseball.

"I've just never been a fan of cricket," he said.

Nearby, a baseball mom who didn't want to reveal her name because she had called in sick to work to accompany her two boys to the beach meet-and-greet, said her sons, 6 and 9, learned the game from their dad, who's been playing club ball on the Sydney outskirts his whole life.

She said her boys, one of whom was wearing a D-backs cap while the other wore a Dodgers cap, were excited to attend Thursday night's exhibition between the Dodgers and the Australian national team.

They also weren't aware of the intense National League West rivalry until they saw footage of a brawl between the clubs last June on a local news program hyping Opening Series 2014, which begins Saturday night at Sydney Cricket Ground.

"They watched it on TV last night," she said. "They turned to me and said, 'Wow! Is that going to happen this weekend?'"

The players signed autographs, played a little catch with the young "baseballers," and Butera even took off his shirt and ran into the surf with a few of the North Bondi lifeguards.

While coming up with the Minnesota Twins, Butera had roomed with native Australian Luke Hughes, so he had heard plenty of stories about how kids turn to baseball Down Under, even when there are so many other athletic temptations.

"It might not be huge here yet, but it's growing," Butera said. "And this series is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I'm really happy that I'm getting to be a part of it."

The sentiment was shared by the kids and their coaches.

Ben Targett, 37, began playing baseball for a club team five years ago and still straps it on. He coaches the Bosco team, for which his 7-year-old son, Mikah, is the shortstop.

"It's a good position for him," Targett said. "He loves to get in on the action."

Federowicz had noticed on the bus ride from the airport there were a few rugby pitches and fields with Australian rules football goalposts, but not many baseball diamonds.

But he admitted that a few minutes of talking to the bright young stars of Australian baseball by the crashing waves of Bondi Beach had him encouraged for the future of the sport here.

"They told me that they like it a lot better than cricket," Federowicz said.

"That's a good sign."

Crawford departs Minors game with unknown injury

By Jesse Sanchez

GLENDALE, Ariz -- Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford was removed for an unknown reason in the second inning of a Triple-A game against the Mariners on Tuesday at Camelback Ranch.

It's unclear if Crawford was injured in the game, but he was taken to the clubhouse on a cart. Sources indicate the outfielder might have tweaked his right shoulder.

The Dodgers will give an update on Crawford when manager Don Mattingly speaks to the media later Tuesday in Australia.Crawford started in left field and struck out looking in his only at-bat of the game in the first inning of the Minor League game. He did not make the trip to Australia for Opening Day because he'll be placed on paternity leave.

The veteran missed time last month because of right quad and hamstring tightness, but he has played regularly. He spent a month on the disabled list last year with a strained left hamstring. Crawford played in only 31 games because of injuries in 2012.

Van Slyke works way back into Dodgers' plans

By Ken Gurnick

SYDNEY -- Don Mattingly hasn't named a starting left fielder for Opening Night yet, but Scott Van Slyke is the most likely candidate.

Talk about reinventing yourself. In 2011, Van Slyke was the Dodgers' Minor League player of the year after a monster season at Double-A Chattanooga.

He moved up to Albuquerque for the 2012 season and was headed for another player of the year season when he finally got the callup to Los Angeles, only to hit .167 and disappoint with his approach.

When that season was over, the Dodgers had seen enough of Van Slyke, and apparently so had every other team. He cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A. The son of former All-Star Andy Van Slyke was at a crossroads.

"That year, we had our kid and I came to camp overweight," said Van Slyke. "I didn't look like a baseball player and didn't play like one. A few guys can get away with it. I didn't. A couple guys told me how people viewed me and a lot of it is how you look."

Van Slyke has lost 30 pounds in two years, from 250 to 220. He hit .348 at Triple-A Albuquerque with a 1.107 OPS to earn his way back to the Major Leagues as a fill-in that slugged seven home runs in 129 at-bats last year.

That was good enough to bring him into training camp this spring with a job to lose. He hasn't lost it. He's serviceable in the outfield and at first base. The latter is manned by dependable Adrian Gonzalez, so Van Slyke will be the fill-in when Gonzalez gets a break against a tough left-hander.

Although Van Slyke isn't one of the four big-name outfielders the Dodgers are supposed to have, he could start Saturday's regular-season opener because he's healthy and here. Those are two characteristics not shared by incumbent left fielder Carl Crawford, who remained in Arizona for the birth of his baby and came out of a Minor League game Wednesday with a right shoulder issue.

Van Slyke is particularly effective against lefties like Arizona's starting pitcher Wade Miley. In addition, Van Slyke has shown an effectiveness coming off the bench as a pinch-hitter (6-for-14).

What would it mean to be the second Van Slyke to appear in an Opening Day starting lineup Saturday night?

"Obviously, that's never happened to me and if it did happen, I'd be excited and thankful and feel blessed and grateful," he said. "My wife and I have talked about this a lot. When things don't go well in life, you can play the woe-is-me card. What helped me focus and prepare was realizing that I'm playing for a higher power.

"Growing up, I don't think I ever had anything really hard happen to me. I had an easy life. It was school and sports, my parents took care of everything. The first time I struggled was [high Class A] and I had to re-evaluate how I went about my business. I needed a kick in the butt."It happened again in 2012."I talked with my dad, he went through struggles, too," Van Slyke said. "Everybody does. But the really good guys struggled for six days, then put up three good months. I've had to take a step back before realizing it."

Van Slyke was good enough to help the Dodgers win a division title last year, good enough to make the postseason roster and might just be good enough, and right-handed enough, to start the first game of the year in Australia.

"I'm proud and excited to get to this point after everything that's happened," he said.

Wind plays tricks at Sydney Cricket Ground

By Ken Gurnick

SYDNEY -- On Wednesday, a funny thing happened to the Tuesday perception of the Sydney Cricket Ground as a bandbox in its baseball configuration.

The wind changed direction.

Drawing its first comparison to legendary Wrigley Field, SCG took on an entirely different persona as fly balls that reached the upper deck 24 hours earlier couldn't clear the outfield fence.

"It's a completely different ballpark," said Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

In other weather-related news, there is a 30 percent chance of rain Saturday night and Sunday for the two games between the Dodgers and D-backs.

Dodgers mum on starter for Thursday's exhibition

By Ken Gurnick

SYDNEY -- Dodgers manager Don Mattingly took his covert managing style to a new level on Wednesday, declining to say which non-roster pitcher would start Thursday night's exhibition game against Team Australia.

Top prospect Zach Lee and overachiever Red Patterson are the candidates and both will pitch, but Mattingly wouldn't say which would start and which would follow.

The Dodgers are hopeful to use only those two pitchers, who are not expected to make the Opening Day roster, and save everybody else for the season-opening weekend series with the D-backs.

Because MLB rules allowed only five extra players to make the trip, some of the players from Thursday's game will be on the active roster Saturday, but Mattingly said he will keep their usage to a minimum.

Miguel Rojas, Alex Guerrero and Joc Pederson will likely play the entire game, as they are not likely to be on the active roster. In that scenario, the Dodgers would carry three catchers, including Drew Butera, who is out of options.

OC REGISTER

Miller: Dodgers opening Down Under is downright strange

By Jeff MillerThe Dodgers are preparing to open the baseball season 7,500 miles away in a cricket stadium at 1 a.m. our time on a Saturday during the third week of March.

There is no better place for this to be happening than Australia, a country where, relative to here, everything already is upside down.

To those involved, the Dodgers’ two-game series this weekend against the Arizona Diamondbacks is being promoted as a unique experience. It certainly will be one-of-a-kind. At no other point this season will the Dodgers play a game in which the goofiest thing isn’t Brian Wilson’s beard.

Throwing out the sport’s first pitch in a land where, according to Gannett News Service, baseball is less popular than sailing clearly makes sense. Then again, to those running baseball, so does having their two leagues continue to play by separate sets of rules.

They’ve done this before, taking something as American as opening day and shoving it down the throats of people living somewhere other than America, people who never actually asked for opening day in the first place.

And, come to think of it, how American is that?

We, however, always thought these trips are why the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays still exist. Those clubs can’t attract fans from their own neighborhoods, so why not foist them upon a bunch of poor, captivated souls who don’t know any better?

But these are the Dodgers, one of the favorites to win the next World Series and a club that, if drawing support becomes a problem, will simply go out and buy more fans.

If you’re looking to stage an opening day everyone will miss – and no one will miss, at the same time – schedule the Mariners against the Rays in the middle of the night on another continent and see how long it takes for the U.S. to realize that baseball season has begun.

The Mariners and A’s opened the 2012 season before a sold-out Tokyo Dome, the main attraction being Japanese sensation Ichiro Suzuki, who likely was more recognizable there than Tim Federowicz is currently in Sydney.

Yeah, this series will lack the historic attachment Ichiro brought to Tokyo. It is unlikely the children of Australia will forever remember where they were when the first pitch of the 2014 Major League Baseball season was thrown by Wade Miley.

On the occasion of the 2012 opener, Commissioner Bud Selig talked about the importance of growing the game internationally and announced his “dream” is to one day play regular-season games in Europe.

So, two years later, naturally the Dodgers and Diamondbacks find themselves in Australia, which is, geographically, in the opposite direction of Europe.

Good thing Selig hasn’t dreamed of baseball being played at the center of the Earth. Otherwise, next spring, two teams would be getting fitted for space suits, and just imagine how fired up Zack Greinke would be about that trip.

There is no doubt this venture will promote baseball among the Aussies. Just look at what happened the last time, the White Sox and Giants visiting for an exhibition at Sydney Cricket Ground.

The impact that resulted was so profound baseball couldn’t wait to return, now doing so only 100 years later. Just a guess, but the buzz from that game in 1914 probably is as dead today as Abner Doubleday.

Who knows, though? Maybe someone who was at that game also will attend the Dodgers-Diamondbacks opener Saturday.

That person would have to be in excess of a century old, sure, but that would put him or her in the precise demographic to which baseball now most appeals.

Upon arrival in Sydney on Tuesday, Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully claimed, “It’s great to be here.” We’re not about to call an icon like Scully a liar but, after a 15-hour flight, it probably would have been great to be just about anywhere, including strapped into a dentist’s chair.

Greinke, of course, made headlines a few weeks ago by having the audacity to speak the truth. He said there was “absolutely zero excitement” among the Dodgers for this trip, and how strange is it to hear a professional athlete share an opinion that’s genuine?

Yet, nobody wants to listen to the complaints of someone with a nearly $150 million contract. So Greinke was sufficiently ripped, even though he could be a 20-game winner this season and still not throw a single pitch more accurate than that initial comment.

Poetically, Greinke didn’t make the trip to Australia, staying back in Arizona because of an injury, a calf that’s strained maybe even as much as his relationship with all those baseball fans he offended Down Under.

Still, these two games are expected to be sellouts, and we could make a crack here about baseball selling out opening day 2014 for the sake of peddling a few Yasiel Puig jerseys.

But there’s no need to be that negative, not with the promise of another baseball season calling and the Dodgers and Diamondbacks now happily standing on their heads to make it happen.

Crawford leaves minor league game with injury

By Pedro Moura

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Dodgers left fielder Carl Crawford was carted from a back field at Camelback Ranch because of an apparent shoulder injury after one at-bat in a minor-league game Tuesday.

Crawford stayed in Arizona while the Dodgers traveled to Australia because his fiancée, TV personality Evelyn Lozada, is expecting soon. He is on MLB's sanctioned paternity list.

Several people who saw him carted away said he was holding his right shoulder as he was taken from the field. He had started a Triple-A game against the Seattle Mariners in left field and struck out looking in his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning.

After playing in the field in the top half of the second, he came out of the game and was soon carted off.

Manager Don Mattingly, who is in Australia, said in a statement Crawford felt something in his right shoulder while swinging and was pulled for precautionary reasons. Wednesday is a planned day off and the team said he is expected to resume action Thurday.

Crawford, 32, has not had serious reported issues with the shoulder in the past, missing one game because of a bruise there in 2009. He was nagged by hamstring injuries during his first season with the Dodgers in 2013.

Without Crawford in Australia, the Dodgers are likely to start power-hitting reserve Scott Van Slyke in left field, at least against left-handed pitching, and a long-term injury to Crawford would likely increase Van Slyke’s role.HAREN PROGRESSES

A week ago, Dan Haren was dealing with a mild case of dead arm and not feeling too great about his progress in his first spring training with the Dodgers.

Now, after a minor-league start against the Mariners’ Triple-A squad, the veteran right-hander’s status has improved thanks to two added days of rest between starts.

“I’m really happy with how I feel,” Haren said. “I had great results in the big-league games, but I felt average at best. Today, I felt good. I felt great, actually – way better than I felt in any other start this spring.”

Haren threw 75 pitches in 42/3 innings, allowing five hits and four runs while walking one. The big blow was a three-run home run by Mariners catcher Jesus Montero in the first inning, which came on a cutter on the inner half of the plate.

“I gave up a few runs, but no big deal,” Haren said.

Haren said he is next scheduled to start a minor-league game Monday, which would be a day of rest.

KEMP ‘CLOSE’

Playing in a minor-league game for the second straight day, center fielder Matt Kemp had the same results Tuesday as he did a day earlier.

He went 0 for 3 with a walk against Mariners’ Triple-A pitching and played four innings in the field, making two routine plays.

Kemp, returning from offseason ankle surgery, said he felt like he was “getting close” to his healthy, normal self.

He has not hit well in simulated games against Dodgers’ minor leaguers or opposing teams, but said that’s not important to him.

“I don’t care about the results,” Kemp said. “I care about how I feel, and I feel good.”

NOTES

Counting Crawford, Haren, Kemp and right-handers Zack Greinke, Chad Billingsley, Josh Beckett and Brandon League, the Dodgers have an estimated $116 million in payroll in Arizona while most of the team is in Australia for two games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. … League pitched in a minor-league game Tuesday.

Dodgers see the light ... and get some sleep

By Pedro Moura

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Lightbulbs that cost $70 apiece, watches that track how many times users toss and turn during sleep, and compression socks to prevent in-air ankle swelling.

The Dodgers and vice president of medical services Stan Conte spared no expense to prepare players, coaches and staffers for the 15-hour red-eye flight from Phoenix to Sydney, Australia that landed Monday afternoon – about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, Sydney time.

“They’re trying everything,” said ace Clayton Kershaw, who starts the first game Saturday, at 1 a.m. PT against the Arizona Diamondbacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The lightbulbs, developed by Lighting Science Group for astronauts and released this year, come in two types. All interested players were given the Good Night version, which slowly changes color to help bodies produce more melatonin, a natural hormone that causes drowsiness and aids sleep, and the Awake & Alert version.

As you might expect, the latter keeps users awake with what players described as a “bluer” light. The company says it’s approved for use to treat seasonal affective disorder, and catcher Tim Federowicz said it helped him adjust to the time zone change.

The lights were also on the chartered Qantas 747 the team flew, in the players’ hotel rooms in Sydney and at home in Los Angeles upon their return Sunday, if desired.

“When you see the light, you go to sleep. See the light, go to sleep,” said backup infielder Justin Turner. “And then, when you get on the plane and they turn those lights on after a few hours, you go to sleep. It’s training a habit.”

The watches, manufactured by Basis, are more of a research tool. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly proudly wore one in the days before the team left to Australia, but professed to having no idea how it worked.

“This is about your biorhythms and all that stuff,” Mattingly joked.

The watch contains Advanced Sleep Analysis software, billed as the most in-depth sleep assessment in the health tracker market. It will measure how much the sleep schedules of Mattingly – and other wearers – are affected by all the travel.Left-hander J.P. Howell said he wasn’t concerned about a lack of sleep before or on the flight.

“It’s not so much the sleep, it’s the dehydration, the body concerns,” Howell said, noting he drank 12 bottles of water each day before the flight.

NOTES

Three players who stayed behind participated in minor-league action Monday. Right-hander Zack Greinke (calf) pitched four scoreless innings in a Class-A game at Camelback Ranch, throwing 42 pitches while allowing just one hit. Center fielder Matt Kemp (ankle) went 0 for 3 with a walk, logging four innings in the field. And left fielder Carl Crawford (paternity leave) went 1 for 3 with a stolen base.

ESPNLA.COM

Dodgers spread baseball gospel at beach

By Mark Saxon

SYDNEY -- A group of Australian little leaguers were asked who they were most excited to meet on the Dodgers. After a few quiet seconds, one of them piped up, "Ryan Kershaw!"

Clearly, there's a little work to do in spreading the gospel of America's pastime to the Australian youth.

In fact, that is a pretty good way of describing the whole point of this Opening Series Down Under. Wednesday, the Dodgers played their part in that mission, with a group of their younger players visiting one of the most famous, most beautiful beaches on earth -- Bondi Beach -- to mingle with two little-league teams from the Sydney suburbs.

Teresa Fletcher had her two boys, Jack, 6, who was wearing a Dodgers cap and Luke, 9, who was wearing a Diamondbacks hat. They play for the Ilawong Marlins. Teresa Fletcher said her family was watching the news on TV Tuesday night when a clip of the Dodgers-Diamondbacks brawl from last June was shown. Nice way to hype this weekend's series, huh?

"I said, 'Oh, no, none of that,' " Teresa Fletcher said.

If you've ever been around two young boys, you know exactly what she was feeling. They don't need any more prompting to start fighting again.

Emma Green, 13, was at Bondi Beach, too, to mingle with the Dodgers. She's 13, but she has been playing baseball since she was 5. A club baseball team visited her elementary school and gave a demonstration and she was hooked. Green's mom woke up the other day and her daughter was in front of the TV watching a U.S. spring training game. It was 3 a.m.

So, yeah, there are some kids in Australia who have caught the baseball bug. Many of the little-league families I met were planning to attend one of the Dodgers-Diamondbacks games or one of the exhibitions against the Australian national team.

Dodgers catcher Tim Federowicz looked as if he was having a good time in his sunglasses and flip-flops mingling with the Australian kids. He said most of them asked him how he liked Australia so far, but he didn't get much probing about the intricacies of catching. He sensed more enthusiasm than knowledge.

"A lot of them said they like it better than cricket, so that's good," Federowicz said.

The players got something out of it, too, in addition to spending time with some charming kids. They took a boat ride back to their hotel that featured stunning views of the Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. First, they stopped to pose for pictures with a comely young blond lifeguard. She gave catcher Drew Butera a demonstration in paddleboard rescue and he looked pretty pleased with it.

Adrian Gonzalez walked up a few minutes later in sunglasses and a backward baseball cap. He was just visiting Bondi Beach when he ran into the Dodgers goodwill mission. He good-naturedly posed for a few photos. The beach sweeps to the south and then climbs some stone stairs to a sweeping view of the beach and those to the south, with rocks and the dark blue Tasman Bay dominating the senses. Mark Trumbo, the Arizona Diamondbacks new outfielder, was hanging out enjoying the view. He said it reminded him some of Newport Beach, not far from where he grew up.

It appears the players are enjoying this Australia trip more than they thought they would.

Sydney Cricket Ground could be hitter's paradise

By Mark Saxon

SYDNEY -- Hanley Ramirez was coming off the field following the Dodgers’ first batting practice session at Sydney Cricket Ground when someone asked him how the ball carries.

“Awesome,” he said, with a big smile.

Dee Gordon predicts there will be a lot of home runs hit at Sydney Cricket Ground.

A first look at the field for Opening Day suggests the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks could play some high-scoring games here Saturday and Sunday even though they’re sending four of their best pitchers to the mound.

It’s not just the dimensions, which are fairly standard. With a lot of foul ground, field designers were hesitant to make it too much of a pitcher’s park, so they pinched the outfield corners in to 328 feet down the line, with the power alleys at 370 feet and straight center field at 400.

But you never know how a field will play until they start playing on it. The weather here is warm with a bit of ocean humidity and gentle sea breezes that seemed to waft balls over the fence in batting practice. Even balls not struck

squarely were carrying a long way. Temperature at first pitch Sunday afternoon figures to be about 84 degrees. Dee Gordon came off the field and said, “There are going to be a lot of homers hit here.”

That might be only half the headache for pitchers and defenders. Chone Figgins compared the outfield playing surface to Oakland’s following a Raiders game, after the temporary seats have been removed, killing the grass beneath it.

The part of the field that is used as a cricket pitch here is hard, so line drives in between outfielders figure to scoot past them to the walls. That could lead to yet more extra-base hits. The infield also was hard, which could lead to more hits overall.

“It seems fast,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “It’s carrying today. I don’t know if it’s the wind or not, but it’s good for offense, for sure.”

ESPN.COM

Australian Rules Baseball

By Jim Caple

When Ryan Rowland-Smith was growing up in Sydney, Australia, about the only exposure most Australians had to baseball was "The Simpsons" 1992 episode "Homer at the Bat," in which Mr. Burns hires nine major league ringers to play on the company softball team.

Rowland-Smith made his major league debut 15 years later against Ken Griffey Jr., which he was happy about because Junior was the only active major leaguer at the time his friends back home in Australia could identify. Friends would tell him, "Oh, yeah, he's one of the guys who was on 'The Simpsons!'"

"It's different now," said Rowland-Smith, who is hoping for a big league comeback with the Diamondbacks this season after last pitching in the majors in 2010. "I've got friends who aren't baseball fans, but they've got MLB TV and they can archive games whether I'm playing or not, because the accessibility has made it easier. And the interest is higher -- MLB has pushed the brand out. The familiarity with big league players now is way better than it was 10 or 15 years ago.

Before, you would have to watch 'The Simpsons' to figure out the guys to watch."

Baseball hopes to grow its popularity further in Australia this weekend when the Dodgers and Diamondbacks officially open the 2014 season with a two-game series at the Sydney Cricket Ground. (Rowland-Smith is with the D-backs for the games in Australia.) The MLB season has opened several times in Japan, where, like here, the game is the national pastime, but these will be the first major league games ever played in Australia.

There are some people -- Anti-Crocodile Greinke among them -- who don't get why baseball opens in another country. I can understand that feeling. International openers, especially those played on the other side of the date line, disrupt normal routines. They force teams to start the season before their pitchers are at peak strength and force fans to either watch the games when they are normally sleeping or miss their team's opener entirely.

But international series serve a purpose. They grow the game, bringing in more talent while generating more fans and global interest.

"These games are a showpiece, a platform to give baseball a boost," said Paul Archey, MLB's senior vice president for international operations. "It's played in Australia and it's a growing sport. From numbers and talentwise, Australia is arguably one of the fastest-growing baseball countries in the world." Archey said that some 30 Australians have made it to the majors since 1999, with another 70 or 80 in the minors and even more in colleges.

"We've seen the game develop and we hope to give it a boost and a showcase to people who really haven't seen it up close and personal."

Baseball remains a niche sport in Australia compared to cricket, rugby and Australian rules football, but it is a growing niche. Archey worked for MLB International in Sydney during the early '90s and recalls that most Australians weren't even aware the game was played in their country. "If you saw someone here wearing a Yankees cap, you knew they had gone on a trip to the United States," he said. "That's all changed."

Baseball's exposure is much greater thanks to the Internet and gamecasts. Major League Baseball also got the Australian Baseball League going again a couple of years ago, giving Australian players additional career paths. There are baseball academies. And the success of Australians in the majors -- financially as well as statistically -- provides inspiration for younger athletes to try the sport.

"When Grant Balfour signs a two-year, $12 million deal or a three-year deal with Oakland [worth $13 million], that amount of money and that magnitude of the contract, is something they can't comprehend back in Australia. So that's big news," Rowland-Smith said. "Grant is a national figure because of what he's done. Stuff like that, you just didn't hear about 10 years ago."

Likewise, Major League Baseball is also more interested in Australia. "When I signed 13 years ago, there were a handful of teams that were serious about sending scouts over and trying to sign you," Rowland-Smith said. "Now, every team sends someone over there."

MLB has been working to play an opener in Australia for many years -- so many that Archey said someone once joked there would be ice hockey at Dodger Stadium before there was baseball at the Sydney Cricket Ground. That prediction was correct, but just barely. Converting the cricket ground to baseball cost a reported $2 million and provides an interesting mix of nostalgic grandstands and modern stadium. While some tickets remain available, sellouts of 38,000 are expected.

"I'm just really hoping this will be a big thing in Australia and the reviews are good afterward," Rowland-Smith said. "And that the nonbaseball fans pick up on it. That's what I'm hoping for."

Baseball fans here should hope for the same thing. While the opening game times may be inconvenient for fans in Los Angeles and Arizona (1 a.m. on the West Coast), it will be worth it in the long run, when some kid who was inspired by the games at the Sydney Cricket Ground grows up to hit a Kirk Gibson-like home run in the World Series for the Dodgers or hit a Luis Gonzalez-like game-winning single for the Diamondbacks.

It's just too bad baseball couldn't find a way to get Homer and Griffey (with his grotesquely swollen jaw) to play in Sydney as well.

But Schmidt also hit 18 home runs that season and went on to lead the league each of the next three years (and eight years overall), win three MVP awards, lead the Phillies to their first world title and wind up in the Hall of Fame. Ron Cey was a six-time All-Star with 316 career home runs and 1,139 RBIs in a 17-year career. John Hilton, however, played in parts of only four seasons and hit .213 with six home runs, despite those mean-looking eyeglasses.

Schmidt talked over the weekend about his battle with skin cancer (stage 3 melanoma), telling reporters he felt fantastic after two surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatment for the illness. Here's hoping his health continues to improve. As Schmidt proved after his rookie year, this is a man you should never underestimate.

Yeah, Well, That's Like, Just Your Opinion, Man

Plus, They Don't Have To Sit In A Middle Seat. One complaint/worry some have about the Australian openers is the effect that the time change and jet lag might have. This should not be an issue. As an experienced traveler (I once

covered a 2000 Olympic event in Sydney, then flew to Anaheim, Calif., and covered a baseball game all in the same day), I've come to learn that jet lag is mostly mental. Baseball feeds into jet lag worries by padding the travel time. Playing these games almost 10 days before the season opens here and giving the players a full week back in the U.S. before resuming the season just reinforces the misconception that the adjustment will be arduous and take time. It's better to play international openers as close as possible to the regular openers. The quicker you have to adjust, the quicker you will. The more time you're given to adjust, the longer it takes. "Absolutely," said Rowland-Smith, who estimates he's made the Sydney-America trip 40 times. "Adjust as quick as you can."

Frankly, I think it's more of an adjustment to the body clock for players to go from waking up for early morning workouts during the six weeks of spring training to immediately playing games at night when the season starts.

And After That, Let's Start A Petition To Make Babe Ruth's Birthday A National Holiday, Too. It might be driven by a beer company promo, but I still appreciate Ozzie Smith's pursuit of getting Opening Day declared a national holiday. (He still needs around 15,000 signatures to generate a White House response.) Opening Day should be a holiday. One, despite the NFL ratings generated by gambling and fantasy football, baseball is America's national pastime. Two, tens of thousands play hooky on Opening Day anyway. Three, and most important, who doesn't want an additional day off work (or another day of time-and-a-half pay)? The question this year is: When exactly is Opening Day? Is it when the Dodgers and Diamondbacks play in Sydney this Saturday (very late Friday night/early Saturday morning back here)? Is it Sunday night, March 30, when the Dodgers and Padres play in San Diego? Is it Monday, March 31, when most other teams open the season? Or is it Tuesday, April 1, when the Astros and Yankees open in Houston? Here's the best compromise.

Rather than celebrate a single day, let's have the entire Opening Week turned into a national holiday.

But Ralph Fiennes Still Doesn't Look As Silly As Chet Lemon Did In Those White Sox Shorts. I'm not a big fan of many Wes Anderson's movies. His films too often are a little too precious, as if just creatively posing actors in amusing period costumes and hairstyles is enough to carry a 90-minute story. Hey, Turn Back the Clock days are great, too, with the old uniforms and all, but you still need a real and interesting nine-inning game to hold the fans' interest. I did, however, very much enjoy Anderson's latest offering, "The Grand Budapest Hotel," which actually has a definite and enjoyable plot that takes viewers on an entertaining ride. And yes, the period costuming is also as entertaining as the 1970s and '80s White Sox uniforms.

CSI: Box Score AnswerThis was a tough one. The biggest clue was this week's column about Australian baseball. That, plus the name Shipley in what was clearly a lineup of names from the '80s (Garvey, Templeton, Niedenfuer, Welch et al), might have given you all the hints you needed. That's because this box score fragment is from Craig Shipley's debut when he became the first Australian in the modern era to reach the majors (way back on June 26, 1986).

TRUEBLUELA.COM

Padres offseason review: Q&A with Gaslamp Ball's Ryan Potter

By David Lauterbach

San Diego had one of the best finishes to the season last year, but still didn't end up above .500. The Padres finished tied for third in the NL West with the Giants with a record of 76-86. As San Diego gets ready to start a new campaign, I caught up with Ryan Potter over at Gaslamp Ball to talk about the team's offseason and upcoming season.

DAVID: What was the biggest offseason move the Padres made?

RYAN: Signing Josh Johnson to a 1 year, $8M has the potential to be huge. If Johnson can remain healthy enough to recapture the form of his Marlins days, he could be the anchor of playoff pitching staff. It's a low risk/high reward move

for GM Josh Byrnes and San Diego front office. Johnson has only thrown more than 200 innings once in his career, but he's shown flashes of brilliance when he has been healthy.

DL: What was the biggest offseason move the Padres DID NOT make?

RP: Obviously we all wanted the situation with Chase Headley's contract to be resolved by now, but it doesn't appear that saga will ever be resolved. I would've liked to see Headley locked up under a long term deal this offseason, but it's increasingly more likely he'll find himself manning the hot corner in the Bronx or some other market with a team willing to pay him much more than the Padres could without wrecking their payroll.

DL: What was the worst offseason move the Padres made?

RP: I was not a fan of the Luke Gregerson for Seth Smith move. Gregerson was arguably the Padres most reliable reliever in 2013 and moving him for a guy who looks like he'll wind up being a bench bat didn't sit well with me. I should add that the Padres did wind up strengthening their bullpen with the additions of Joaquin Benoit and Alex Torres this offseason, so the point may end up being moot.

DL: Where does the team stand now as a whole? Are there a lot of weaknesses that will be fixed in spring training?

RP: The 2014 Padres are a well assembled bunch. No big name stars, but also no glaring weaknesses in their lineup once Everth Cabrera and Yasmani Grandal return from their suspensions. Losing Cameron Maybin for the beginning of the season due to a biceps injury hurts, though Maybin has been injured so often lately that his absence is almost expected.

DL: What is San Diego's biggest strength heading into the season?

RP: Pitching. which was often the Padres weakness last season, has become the team's biggest strength. The albatrosses of Edinson Volquez and Jason Marquis (who had the highest FIP in MLB among qualified starters last season) have been removed from our necks and replaced with guys who have the potential for breakout years like Josh Johnson and Ian Kennedy. The bullpen has also been strengthened by the additions of Benoit and Torres.

DL: How long do you think Chase Headley will last in a Padres' uniform this year?

RP: I would be very surprised if Headley is still in a Padres uniform on July 15th and he certainly won't survive in San Diego past the trade deadline. The sooner the better, in my opinion. Headley is a good player and I'd like to keep him, but his contract saga distracts from the other great storylines going on in San Diego. We have an exciting young team primed to make a run for the playoffs, if he doesn't want to be a part of that, good riddence.

DL: Who is a rookie to look out for this year?

RP: You might hear quite about 1B/OF Tommy Medica challenging Yonder Alonso for his spot in the starting lineup. Medica is a 26 year old 1B prospect with a fringe average hit tool and a little power who's been old for his level at every step. He'll likely wind up a decent bench bat. Medica and Ryan Jackson (acquired from the Cardinals for Jesus Guzman) will likely be the only true rookies on the Opening Day roster. Neither of those guys really get my blood pumping. Austin Hedges is probably still a year away, so if you're looking for impact potential from a Padres rookie, you'll probably have to settle for Matt Wisler when he arrives around mid-season. Wisler, a righty, works 92-94 but can run it up into the high 90s and backs up that up with a changeup that'll play and a sharp slider that is his put away pitch. An NL scout from another organization recently told me he thought Wisler could end up being a mid-rotation starter.

DL: Who is your pre-season Cy Young for San Diego?

RP: Andrew Cashner is going to be a monster. He's going to get a shot to start 30+ games this year and I really believe the rest of the league is going to sit up and take notice. If the strikeout numbers ever catch up to the kind of arsenal he's packing, we're talking about an ERA in the mid-2.00s. Watching Cashner pitch last season you really could watch him

become more confident in himself with each start. I wholeheartedly believe that the Padres have something special in Andrew Cashner.

DL: Who is your pre-season MVP for the Padres?

RP: Jedd Gyorko is really going to step forward come into his own this season. In 525 PA as a rookie in 2013, Gyorko hit .249/.301/.444 and the 23HR he hit landed him second only to Robinson Cano among 2nd basemen. That was all while adjusting to playing a position that he hadn't played regularly since his freshman season at West Virginia. He'll never be a great defender but that type of power profile is uncommon at his position and can provide the Padres with a ton of value. Look for a .280 AVG 25-28HR type of season from Jedd Gyorko this season.

DL: What does San Diego need to do to make the playoffs?

RP: Anyone reading this interview or anything else I've written about the Padres lately will notice that I seem to compulsively insert "if healthy" into sentences where you wouldn't normally find them if you were reading about any other team. Injuries have decimated Padres teams the past few seasons. Promising young pitchers in particular have been the hardest bitten.

RP: Casey Kelly, Cory Luebke, and Joe Wieland are just the tip of the iceberg. It's come out in the past few days that it's likely Luebke and Wieland are looking at their second Tommy John procedures. I'm not sure if it's the throwing program or that the scouting and player development department doesn't do a great job in assessing the pitching mechanics of prospective draft picks for injury risk or just bad luck, but it's a definitely more of a problem for the Padres than it seems to be with other organisations.

RP: However, staying healthy is the necessary for any team to make a playoff run. The NL West is strong. The Dodgers and Diamondbacks are going to be a couple of solid ball clubs. I was assigned the Diamondbacks team preview for Beyond the Box Score and I came away from it really thinking they're in a position to make a deep playoff run. The Dodgers seem to have a weapon at every position and a rotation full of guys who can beat you on any night. Don't forget the Giants, they have a pretty good team, but I think they lack the pieces in their farm system to cash in for an extra starter or impact bat at the deadline to put them over the top. At present, the only team in the NL West you can almost certainly say the Padres will be better than is the Rockies, they still appear to be a few years away but have a lot of talent in the minors.

RP: Essentially what I'm getting at is that is the Padres want to make the playoffs out of this division they're going to need a lot of their guys to max out their potential. Josh Johnson and Ian Kennedy are going to have to be at least most of what they were a few seasons ago, Andrew Cashner is going to have to develop into a guy who can be counted on to give his team a chance to win every time he takes the ball, and as I said above I believe he can be. If they get even 75% of what they got out of Eric Stults last season, that has to be considered a win.

RP: If they can put all of that together and have the position players put up the numbers they're projected to, they have a good shot at a Wild Card spot. They have the talent in the minor leagues they can cash in on to go out and grab a rental to bolster the lineup near the deadline if needed, but I don't really think that's what Josh Byrnes and company are about.

DL: Where do you see the Padres finishing at the end of the regular season? Record, place in division, place in playoffs, etc.

RP: The Padres are a popular sleeper candidate entering the season, and I'd love to see them make some noise. The fanbase could really use it. However, I think that they're still a year or two away from making a serious run. For smaller budget teams like the Padres, it's all about a slow build and giving young players a chance to develop and take their lumps at the major league level. After back to back 76-86 campaigns, I expect the Padres to take a significant step, but not a leap, forward in 2014. Forced to make a prediction, I'd say they finish 81-81, behind the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. I, for one, would be thrilled with that

Carl Crawford leaves minor league game with shoulder inflammation

By Eric Stephen

Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford left Tuesday's minor league game against Padres Triple-A players at Camelback Ranch on a cart, possibly with a shoulder injury per multiple reports.

"Several people who saw him carted away said he was holding his right shoulder as he was taken from the field," wrote Pedro Moura of the Orange County Register, one of a few reporters on hand on the back fields to watch the game, which also featured Matt Kemp in center field and Dan Haren on the mound.

"Sources indicate the outfielder might have tweaked his right shoulder," wrote Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. His colleague Ken Gurnick called it a "minor shoulder issue."

Per both reports, Crawford struck out looking in his only at-bat and returned to play left field in the top of the second inning before leaving the game in the middle of the second inning.

What complicates this is that Crawford stayed back to be available at a moment's notice to be with his fiancèe for the birth of their child, expected any day now. Crawford was expected to open the season on the paternity leave list, but once rosters are due on Friday night at 7 p.m. PT (six hours before the opening game in Sydney against the Diamondbacks) a shoulder injury could push Crawford to a different list.

Heading back to the clubhouse on a cart sounds bad at first, but it's also common for players - especially stars with high-paying major league contracts like Crawford - to be given a ride from the backfields of Camelback Ranch all the way back to the Dodgers' main complex building.

With the bulk of the team in Australia, there is no clubhouse access this week at Camelback Ranch, so nobody has yet spoken to Crawford to find out a reason why he exited the game. Manager Don Mattingly is expected to address the issue at his pregame press conference in Australia on Wednesday, but that won't happen until some time shortly before the Dodgers' workout, which isn't until 10:30 p.m. PT tonight.

This falls under speculation, but if the Dodgers would have to place Crawford on the disabled list the earliest he could return is the home opener on April 4. Five games doesn't sound like a compelling enough reason for the Dodgers to add Joc Pederson to the 40-man roster, but if Crawford needs to miss much more time, coupled with the unknown return date of Kemp, well ... let's just wait to hear what Mattingly has to say first.

UPDATE (8:45 p.m. PT): Mattingly said Crawford had shoulder inflammation and that no MRI is planned, per David Vassegh of KLAC. Mattingly also said Crawford was scheduled to have Wednesday off anyway, and is expected to play on Thursday, again per Vassegh.

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks baseballers hail new-look SCG

By Michael Chammas

There was no doubt the Sydney Cricket Ground looked a picture as a ball park, but on Tuesday it was given the ultimate stamp of approval by Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks players.

Having touched down in Sydney on Tuesday morning, the two teams got their first look at the iconic ground when they held their first practice sessions in the afternoon.

After checking out the SCG's incredible transformation, which has been likened to the Oakland Coliseum, both the Dodgers and Diamondbacks were drawn to the iconic members' stand.

"I had the privilege of growing up in Tiger Stadium (Detroit), one of the most historic ball parks in the United States, and had an opportunity to play in Fenway (Boston Red Sox) as well," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

"When you get here and you see the history, all the dents in the wall and the cracks in the wall and all the different players that have come through with the plaques on the wall, it makes you feel like a part of that history. We're excited to be here."

However, the hallowed turf will provide a unique experience when games get under way on Thursday when Team Australia take on the Dodgers in an exhibition game.

The centre square, which only a few months ago played host to Australia's Ashes series whitewash against the old enemy England, raised a few alarm bells.

"It's a little hard there," Diamondbacks outfield coach Dave McKay said.

"But we can't do anything about it. We have to work around it. The ball will get to you harder, it will bounce a little bit. It will make it feel like an in-fielder. You don't go through that ball if you don't have to. We did some work on it and we'll do some more. We showed the guys how it bounces higher off that area there.

"No one really thought about that, but there's nothing we can do about it. We know they can't dig it up and replace it, there's so much history there. It's something special that area, so we'll just work around it. It's unique. Every stadium will have something in the dimensions that you have to concern yourself about and that is this one's."

Apart from the centre square, there is another characteristic of the ground that differs to all Major League Baseball stadiums.

Well, not quite all.

The Oakland A's home ground is renowned for its large foul territory, but the SCG might just have it covered.

"I think the foul territory will be a big difference to what both teams are used to," Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt said.

"There's a ton of foul territory, especially in the infield and behind home plate. All the baseball stadiums are different in the States. It's just another little adjustment."

Joining the Diamondbacks on their tour Down Under is Craig Shipley, special assistant to Arizona general manager Kevin Towers.

In 1988 Shipley became the first Australian to play in the Major League since the 1800s when he debuted for the Dodgers.

Having watched several rugby league games and even played schoolboys' rugby union at the SCG, Shipley described the renovation as ''outstanding''.

"What an incredible transformation from a cricket field to a baseball stadium, it's outstanding," Shipley said.

"It's pretty special. As a kid, I never would have imagined there would be a Major League baseball game on the SCG. Having left when I was 18 at a time where nobody had made it to the big leagues, it's been a long journey. This is a special week.

"I remember sitting on the old hill when I was too young to have a beer. I remember coming to rugby league games. I actually played a rugby union game here in my last year [at Epping Boys High School]. Our Waratah Shield team was pretty good, we had Brett Papworth and Ian Williams in our team. That was a good memory."

DODGER INSIDER

In case you missed it: Sights and sounds of Australia

By Jon Weisman

Nothing can top Vin Scully with a koala, but there’s still a lot going on … Wind could be a gamechanger in the Opening Series, and there’s a 30 percent chance of rain, reports Ken

Gurnick of MLB.com. The Dodgers’ exhibition game against Team Australia begins Thursday at 1 a.m. Pacific. Zach Lee and Red

Patterson will pitch, but we don’t know yet who will start. Some Dodgers visited Bondi Beach and played ball with local Little Leaguers, writes Doug Miller of MLB.com.

Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles has more, as does the Dodgers video crew: Carl Crawford left a minor-league game in Arizona early with a right shoulder injury. Don Mattingly passed along

word from Sydney that Crawford is expected to play again in Arizona on Thursday after a planned day off and that no MRI exams or other scans were scheduled, “but that could change,” according to The Associated Press.

Dan Haren gave up four runs in 4 2/3 innings Tuesday but feels rejuvenated, writes Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. Matt Kemp is also feeling good.

The Dodgers set a new record for average game attendance at Camelback Ranch this year, 9.534 per game, notes Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.

Longtime farm system analyst John Sickels gives his take on the Dodgers’ top 20 prospects at Minor League Ball. According to the newly relaunched FiveThirtyEight, Hanley Ramirez in 2013 had baseball’s most surprisingly

good season in the past eight years, while Andruw Jones in 2008 nearly had the most disappointing one. Wally Moon gets the 1961 Union Oil Family Booklet treatment (see it at Blue Heaven). One last video:

Start with 25 players, finish with 50

By Jon Weisman

For all the fuss over who’s on the Opening Day roster, about half the players the Dodgers use in a typical season typically aren’t. Last year, it was exactly half.

Of the 50 players who wore the uniform for the 2013 Dodgers, 14 began their season in the Dodger farm system, four on the disabled list and seven in other organizations.

Note that Aaron Harang was on the Dodgers’ Opening Day active roster but did not pitch for them in 2013. That doesn’t happen a lot. He was traded April 6 to Colorado for Ramon Hernandez, who was in roster limbo after being designated for assignment before the end of Spring Training.

The Dodgers received 920 plate appearances (15 percent of the team total of of 6,145) and 312 innings (21 percent of the team total of 1,450 1/3) from players who replaced the original 25 in 2013. Top contributors were Yasiel Puig (432 plate appearances), Scott Van Slyke (152) and Dee Gordon (106) at the plate, and Ricky Nolasco (87 innings), Stephen Fife (58 1/3) and Chris Withrow (32 2/3) on the mound.

Opening Day 2013 roster (25): Josh Beckett, Ronald Belisario, Chris Capuano, Zack Greinke, Matt Guerrier, Aaron Harang, J.P. Howell, Kenley Jansen, Clayton Kershaw, Brandon League, Paco Rodriguez, Hyun-Jin Ryu, A.J. Ellis, Tim Federowicz,

Luis Cruz, Mark Ellis, Adrian Gonzalez, Nick Punto, Justin Sellers, Juan Uribe, Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Jerry Hairston, Skip Schumacher

Disabled list (4): Chad Billingsley, Scott Elbert, Hanley Ramirez, Ted Lilly

Triple-A Albuquerque (12): Elian Herrera, Stephen Fife, Alex Castellanos, Josh Wall, Dee Gordon, Chris Withrow, Shawn Tolleson, Javy Guerra, Matt Magill, Scott Van Slyke, Nick Buss, Peter Moylan

Double-A Chattanooga (2): Yasiel Puig, Jose Dominguez

Other organizations (7): Chicago Cubs: Carlos Marmol Miami Marlins: Ricky Nolasco San Diego Padres: Edinson Volquez Texas Rangers: Michael Young Triple-A Rochester (Minnesota Twins): Drew Butera Designated for assignment (Colorado Rockies): Ramon Hernandez Unsigned: Brian Wilson