Count on the Dodgers for these early rites of spring

Dodgers pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to spring-training camp Tuesday morning, and I am positively certain each one of these things will transpire:

-- Ronald Belisario will not only be there on time, he’ll proudly be wearing a lanyard around his neck holding his visa.

-- Catcher Ted Federowicz will arrive without sporting that 1970s-style mustache. Actually, I have no idea if this is true, I just hope it is.

-- The hearts of every hitter in the National League will skip a beat when Clayton Kershaw announces he has been working with Fernando Valenzuela to develop a screwball.

-- Manager Don Mattingly will have to take 267 razzings for good-naturedly wearing a dress for a charity performance of the "Nutcracker." In the first two hours.

-- Rubby De La Rosa will announce he’s at least two months ahead of schedule in his return from Tommy John surgery.

-- Catcher A.J. Ellis will tweet that Chad Billingsley already looks like he’s in midseason form.

-- Ted Lilly’s fastball will appear another 2 mph slower, and he will somehow manage to use it to his advantage.

-- John Grabow will go around the locker room and shake hands with every player, coach and media member, just to remind them he’s left-handed.

-- Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt will explain to some first-time camper how he was actually the only pitcher to beat the Dodgers in the 1988 World Series.

-- In his first time on the mound, Kenley Jansen will throw absolute smoke.

-- Mike MacDougal will again claim to be 185 pounds.

-- Mattingly will say he’s crazy about his rotation and in love with his bullpen. Heartbreak arrives with the hitters Feb. 27.

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Dodgers Web musings: Manny Ramirez goes 'Moneyball'

Or maybe that should be the other way around. Our favorite dreadlocked, greatest-quote, not-talking, power-hitting, feeble-swinging bundle of contradictions has taken his waning talents to the Oakland A’s.

You probably missed that chapter in the book, but for an A’s team woefully shy on talent, it is a small gamble. At least financially. Pedro Gomez at ESPN reported that Ramirez signed for $500,000. Of course, the Dodgers still owe him $8.3 million in each of the next two years.

The Manny who absolutely electrified Dodger Stadium in 2008 is now 39 and coming off a year in which he sat out almost the entire season after being busted a second time for using performance-enhancing drugs.

He’ll have to serve a 50-game suspension first, but he wants to play, so best of luck and all. Manny is now Oakland’s problem, though it might make for an interesting sequel.

Also on the Web:

— Pitchers and catchers report to camp Tuesday and Dodgers.com’s Ken Gurnick writes that it will the first time in a decade they so with an ace. You can possibly figure out who that is.

— The Times’ Patt Morrison has an interesting Q&A piece with Sue Falsone, the first head female trainer in any American professional sport.

— Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti gives a video interview to Fox at a Kings game where he confirms that he wants to sign Andre Ethier to a long-term contract.

   

— ESPN’s Buster Olney says Yankees catcher Russell Martin has dropped weight for this season. Where have we heard about Martin adjusting his weight before? Oh yeah, here.

— Believe it or not, he’s still here: Brett Tomko has signed a minor-league deal with the Reds.

— And while on ex-Dodgers, infielder Blake DeWitt — the Dodgers’ future second baseman only two years ago — has accepted a minor league assignment with the Cubs after clearing waivers. He’s 26.

— Hong-Chin Kuo is ready to start his new life as a Seattle Mariner: “We all face challenges in life. I had one last year and my teammates helped me through it — everyone helped me through it. My coaches, my wife, everyone.”

— The Jeremy Lin phenomenon reminds some of Nomomania. Wait, check that, it’s Fernandomania.

— Don Mattingly tells Dodgers.com's Gurnick that despite not having an established closer like Jonathan Broxton, he is more confident in his bullpen this season.

— Robert Timm at Dodger Dugout offers his two cents on the team’s coming spring.

— Steve Dilbeck

Dodgers announce 2012 spring training broadcast schedule [Updated]

Now that the silly, lip-synced, concussion-induced, look-at-me professional sport that doesn’t even play in Los Angeles is finally over, we can move on to the world’s greatest game?

Get those big-screen LEDs and plasmas fired up — pitchers and catchers report to Camelback Ranch in Arizona in just two weeks, and on Tuesday, the Dodgers released their spring training broadcast schedule.

Counting their three Freeway Series games against the Angels, the Dodgers will televise 18 spring training games.

The only sigh-inducing element is that Vin Scully will not broadcast any games from Camelback, so he won’t be heard from until April 3 when the Dodgers and Angels meet at Dodger Stadium. Maybe we should have sent him some cookies.

[Updated at 11:35 a.m., Feb. 7: Here's some good news. In a new announcement, the Dodgers said Scully will now broadcast a pair of games from Camelback on March 17 against the Giants and March 18 vs. the Angels.]

There are 13 games scheduled to be carried by Prime Ticket, three on KCAL Channel 9 and two on Fox Sports West. The Dodgers’ new flagship radio station, KLAC-AM (570), will air nine games and Spanish-language station KTNQ-AM (1020) will carry eight.

Once again you won’t see or hear it all, of course. On nine different game days, the Dodgers will be on neither English-speaking TV nor radio.

Scully aside, the Dodgers’ regular-season announcing duos of Charley Steiner and Rick Monday, and Eric Collins and Steve Lyons, will announce the spring broadcasts. Jaime Jarrin and Pepe Yniguez will broadcast the Spanish-language games, with Fernando Valenzeula joining for three games.

The spring opener March 5 against the White Sox will be on radio only. The first televised game is the following day on Prime Ticket with Steiner and Monday.

The complete spring broadcasting schedule can be found here.

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Dodgers community caravan scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday

Andre Ethier, James Loney and Dee Gordon will be among the players participating in the Dodgers’ annual community caravan Tuesday and Wednesday.

Newcomers Adam Kennedy and Jerry Hairston Jr. will be part of the community outreach effort, as will former players such as Fernando Valenzuela and Tommy Davis.

One stop on the two-day tour will be open to the public: lunch on Tuesday at a South Los Angeles location that will be revealed at the Dodgers’ Twitter account (@Dodgers) at 12:30 p.m. that day. The lunch will from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

On the caravan that day will be current players Gordon, Kennedy, Tony Gwynn Jr., Kenley Jansen, Josh Lindblom and Ramon Troncoso; former players Davis, Shawn Green, Al Ferrara and Dennis Powell; and broadcaster Eric Collins.

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-- Dylan Hernandez

Dodgers get nod they wanted: Vin Scully bobblehead night

How would you like to market the 2012 Dodgers? No significant new players to trumpet, coming off a third-place finish, ownership still in flux . . .

The Dodgers’ solution is their "Dodger Stadium Greats Bobblehead Series," which became more interesting Monday with the announcement their final three bobblehead giveaways would be Vin Scully, Kirk Gibson and Eric Karros.

Not sure which is a bigger coup, getting the beloved Scully, who had resisted previous efforts to have a bobblehead night, or Gibson, whom I believe was so irritated the Frank McCourt Dodgers would not give him a managerial look that he auctioned off his 1988 World Series memorabilia.

Guess they could have combined the two –- like they plan to do somehow with Don Drysdale and Maury Wills in their first one. You could tap Vin’s head and it could play a recording of  "In the year of the improbable, the impossible has happened." And then have Gibson’s spring on a leg so you could pat him and it looks like he’s limping around the bases.

There are 10 bobblehead nights in all -– available in their own mini-plan ticket package. Here is the schedule:

Date                Opponent                  Bobblehead

April 28           Nationals                   Drysdale and Wills

May 15            Diamondbacks           Orel Hershiser

May 29           Brewers                      Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey

June 12          Angels                        Mike Scioscia

June 28          Mets                           Karros

July 14           Padres                        Tom Lasorda with Walter Alston

July 31           Diamondbacks             Gibson

Aug. 7           Rockies                       Sandy Koufax

Aug. 21         Giants                         Fernando Valenzuela

Aug. 30         Diamondbacks             Scully

Three games are against Arizona, so I guess the Dodgers aren’t figuring on the Diamondbacks' NL West title last season turning them into a draw.

The list includes two ex-Dodgers whose bobbleheads will go out on the night they come in managing an opposing team (Scioscia and Gibson), two who are current broadcasters (Scully and Valenzuela) and two who want to buy the team (Garvey and Hershiser).

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Jaime Jarrin to return on Spanish-language broadcasts

Guess all those surveys must be coming back with glowing reviews. At least for the lead dogs.

Two days after Vin Scully announced he would return next year for his 63^rd season broadcasting Dodgers games, fellow Hall of Fame broadcaster Jaime Jarrin said Sunday he would also return next year.

Jarrin, the team’s main Spanish-language broadcaster, will be returning for his 54^th season.

Like Scully on Friday, Jarrin made his announcement on the air, turning to analyst Fernando Valenzuela and telling his KTNQ 1020 audience:

``The Dodgers have invited me back for another season, so you will have to be by my side again. I love what I do. It’s something I love and it brings me great joy to work alongside you and Pepe Yniguez. I’m pleased to serve the Spanish-language community and really share baseball with them – such a beautiful and pristine sport.’’

A native of Ecuador, Jarrin joined the Dodgers in 1959, one year after the club moved to Los Angeles.

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Photo: Dodgers broadcaster Jaime Jarrin shakes hands with Fernando Valenzuela in June of 2008 after throwing out the first pitch during a ceremony honoring Jarrin for his 50 years of broadcasting games. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Dodgers web musings: The Manny fallout and more

Friday night’s suspended game is scheduled to resume tonight at 5:30, and after a break of 20 minutes the regularly scheduled game will take place.

The Dodgers did not call up an additional pitcher for Saturday, even though they are going to have to send someone down Sunday to call up a starting pitcher, presumably John Ely. They could have just sent someone down Saturday (catcher A.J. Ellis?), and then sent that pitcher down Sunday to call up Ely.

As Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness’ Mike Petriello noted, the end result is the same. Only you’re sending Ellis down one game earlier (although I would prefer sending down catcher Hector Gimenez and take the risk he’s claimed).

And Rafael Furcal is already hurt. Hey, he made it an entire week. Manager Don Mattingly told reporters in San Diego that Furcal injured his wrist on a check swing in Colorado and won’t play in Saturday’s second game. Mattingly called him possible for Sunday.

Meanwhile, as you would expect, plenty of reaction to Manny Ramirez getting busted a second time for a drug violation and then retiring:

-- ESPN’s Jayson Stark said Manny takes a sullied legacy into retirement.

-- Fox  Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi said since his first drug suspension, Manny had been a combo of caricature, footnote and has-been.

-- CBS Sports’ Scott Miller has a final word for Manny: shame.

-- MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince finds Manny’s exit somehow fitting, and says it ends whatever slim chance he still had for the Hall of Fame. Note: He already had no chance.

-- The Times’ Joel Rubin and Bill Shaikin write the LAPD plans to bring some of its anti-gang skills to Dodger Stadium, and notes they are looking at limiting alcohol sales.

-- Times columnist Steve Lopez takes a harsh view of Frank McCourt, saying "We’ve got a minor league businessman running a major league team."

-- In a video, Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal reports that scouts are also unimpressed with the Dodgers offense and are concerned about James Loney (4 for 26).

-- ESPN/LA’s Jon Weisman takes a look at the first start of Fernando Valenzuela on its 30th anniversary.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Dodgers Web musings: All eyes on the start of the season

Opening Day across the Web:

-- The Times’ Dylan Hernandez takes a look at the impact of the Fernandomania phenomenon that rocked the Dodgers and all of baseball 30 years ago. Fernando Valenzuela will throw out Thursday’s first pitch.

-- Hernandez also writes that the Dodgers appear to have a new sense of purpose under Don Mattingly as they open the season.

-- The Times’ Jerry Crowe doesn’t think Andre Ethier’s words were the ones he was looking for to rally the troops.

-- Dodgers.com’s Ken Gurnick thinks the Dodgers have discovered a new enthusiasm under Mattingly.

-- ESPN/LA’s Ramona Shelburne goes the question-and-answer route with Mattingly.

-- ESPN/LA’s Jon Weisman thinks the nature of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry has evolved differently up north.

-- Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti admits to 710-AM’s Steve Mason and John Ireland that he was surprised by Ethier’s recent comments but has no interest in trading him.

-- The Daily News’ Vincent Bonsignore thinks the rest of the country doesn’t give teams in the West enough credit.

-- Fox Sports’ Joe McDonnell looks at the return of Davey Lopes to the Dodgers.

-- Sports Illustrated’s Cliff Corcoran previews the Dodgers and the NL West.

-- LA Dodger Talks’ Mark Timmons offers his Dodgers predictions for the coming season (sorry Tony Gwynn Jr.).

-- The San Jose Mercury-News' Andrew Baggarly writes that Giants fans are excited to finally walk into Dodger Stadium and crow, "We’re world champs."

-- The Dodgers, Diamondbacks and the town of Oro Valley, Ariz. are teaming up to improve the baseball field dedicated to Christina Taylor Green.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Dodgers Web musings: Somehow there are still things unknown about the rise of Fernando Valenzuela

Out there on the Web, three days from the season opener:

-- The Times’ Jerry Crowe shows there are yet elements to the legend of Fernando Valenzuela that are little known.

-- The Times’ Dylan Hernandez looks at infielder Ivan De Jesus Jr., who may at least open the season as the Dodgers’ starting second baseman.

Here’s hoping he makes the best of it, it would solve several problems.

-- Hernandez also profiled newbie manager Don Mattingly and told how the Dodgers were responding to his relative youth (relative to Joe Torre, anyway) and his enthusiasm.

-- Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets that reliever Lance Cormier, who did not want to accept a minor-league assignment, has made the club.

That likely puts an end to Scott Elbert’s immediate chances of starting the season on the roster, leaving Hong-Chih Kuo as the bullpen’s lonely lefty.

-- 2011 predictions are rolling in, and Rosenthal also has the Dodgers pegged at third, their popular preseason designation.

-- LA Dodger Talk’s Mark Timmons thinks Jonathan Broxton would benefit by being a tad bolder about his pitching inside.

-- Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness’ Mike Petriello offers his updated prediction on the Dodgers’ opening 25-man roster.

-- Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verdicci (via Sons of Steve Garvey) notices that only two of the top-20-selling baseball jersey’s are from players on the West Coast (both Giants) and wonders if that’s not because there are no premier sluggers out here.

-- Vin Scully Is My Homeboy’s Roberto Baly offers up  a sampling of his favorite team TV commercials.

-- Dodgers.com’s Ken Gurnick said Vicente Padilla could be a month ahead of schedule in returning from his February arm surgery after throwing off the mound Sunday. Since he’s returning as a reliever, he could be back within weeks.

-- ESPN/LA's Tony Jackson said the Dodgers at least broke camp Sunday with a sense of harmony and purpose.

-- And because you know how we worry about your waistline: NBC Los Angeles' Jonathan Lloyd said a "Doyer Dog'' will debut at Monday's game at Dodger Stadium against the Angels. It boasts chili, nacho cheese, chopped tomatoes, onions and jalapeños. You bring the Rolaids.

And, sadly, say goodbye to Canter's Deli. It has been replaced by Dodgertown Deli, which is apparently airlifting its pastrami in from Vero Beach, Fla.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Dodgers Web musings: Struggle for the No. 2 hitter, the McCourts, off-season grades and more

It’s one of the great unknowns the Dodgers will begin to examine when they report to camp next week:

Who can possibly bat second in the lineup?

There isn’t anything that even resembles a traditional No.2 hitter in their expected lineup, although I understand Larry Bowa is available. No typical table setter. No one with an interestingly high on-base percentage or particularly adept at bunting and advancing the runners.

So are you ready for Casey Blake batting second?

Hey, somebody has to. Newbie manager Don Mattingly told Dodgers.com’s Ken Gurnick he is giving serious thought to having Blake in the No.2 spot because he can hit to the opposite field and take a pitch.

And this can’t be good, can it? Mattingly implied the batting order could be a daily shuffle.

Also on the Web:

-- Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal writes that Bud Selig views Frank and Jamie McCourt far less kindly than Mets’ beleaguered owner Fred Wilpon, but doesn’t sound hopeful the commission will use the "best interest of the game" provision to force movement by either.

-- Off-season grades are coming in, and the Dodgers aren’t faring badly. ESPN’s Jayson Stark gives the Dodgers an NL West-best B-plus, while CBS Sports’ David Andriesen gives them a B, just behind the Rockies’ B-plus.

-- Joe Block is the new co-host for KABC’s Dodger Talk. Block comes from New Orleans, where he hosted a similar show on the Hornets. He’ll team with Josh Suchon, replacing Ken Levine.

Levine is the Seattle Mariners new play-by-play announcer, though he wrote in his blog that he hopes to continue to contribute to Dodger Talk with features.

-- Former L.A. Times baseball writer Ross Newhan thinks Rangers infielder Michael Young would be an ideal fit for either the Dodgers or Angels, but doesn't believe it’s going to happen.

-- The first name listed by Fox Sports’ Jack Magruder on players whose teams need them to step it up this season is Matt Kemp.

-- True Blue LA’s Phil Gurnee gives an overview on prospect Jerry Sands, the Dodgers’ minor league player of the year.

-- Fernando Valenzuela is making his first trip to the Dominican Republic to be enshrined in the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame on Staturday.

-- Sports Illustrated’s Joe Lemire, meanwhile, bemoans the current state of major talent at the Caribbean Series.

-- Tony Malinosky was baseball’s oldest surviving player when he died Tuesday in Oxnard. Malinosky played 35 games for the Dodgers in 1937.

-- Vin Scully Is My Homeboy’s Roberto Baly is pumped over a miniature replica of Ebbets Field, reportedly valued at $4,500.

-- Yahoo.com's Michael Arkush catches up with Maury Wills, still going strong at 78 after prostate and knee replacement surgeries, and still lamenting his lost opportunity as a manager.

-- Steve Dilbeck