晴空卍丈

 

Hong-Chih Kuo, donning the Dodger green jersey and cap in today's St. Patrick's Day game against Arizona.

 

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Hector Gimenez and Gabe Kapler slugged back-to-back home runs, leading the Dodgers to a come-from-behind 6-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Camelback Ranch. Gimenez, who played the final two innings today at first base, his seventh game at first base this spring, hit a two-seam fastball from Rafael Rodriguez to the opposite field down the line in left for a go-ahead three-run home run in the eighth inning.

Gimenez by trade is a catcher, but he hasn't caught in a game since March 10. That hasn't stopped Gimenez from getting in his work behind the plate during workouts, though. "They know I can play first and I can be behind the plate too," he said. "The last couple of days I haven't been behind the plate a lot, but I'm still work on catching every day, trying to work wherever they give me an opportunity to play."

The Dodgers want to see what the 28-year old Venezuelan can do at other positions, to strengthen his chances of making the club. Gimenez is out of options, and would have to be exposed to waivers if he doesn't make the 25-man roster out of spring training. He also played 29 games at third base in Pittsburgh's minor league system in 2009, but the club hasn't asked Gimenez to play the hot corner. Still, he is ready for anything.

"I don't even think about [being out of options]. I just come here, do my job, all I'm thinking is to do my best to help the Dodgers," Gimenez said. "If they decide not to keep me on the team when they go to LA, that's not something I can control. All I can do is do my best and be ready and see what happens."

With possibly not needing a fifth starter until April 12, the Dodgers could play the first 10 games of the season with an extra bench player if they so choose, not bringing up John Ely or possibly Tim Redding until the day of their start. That sixth bench spot could go to Gimenez, or Xavier Paul, who is also out of options, or even an eighth reliever.

Billingsley Doing Work

Chad Billingsley threw 83 pitches in his five innings of work today. He gave up three runs, two on a hard-hit golf double by Miguel Montero in the fourth inning, but Billingsley was happy with his outing. He spent his day working on his curveball and changeup, the curveball which has especially given him trouble this spring. "Since the first day [of spring training], the curveball has been coming out of my hand wrong, and I didn't have a good feel for it. I was really working on it today."

Billingsley has made constant progress throught the spring on his changeup, which became a go-to pitch for him in the second half of last season. "In previous starts I've been getting a good feel for it. It's just a matter of finding situations," Billingsley said, "finding the release point to be able to throw it for strikes, or to induce contact, to throw it in the zone, out of the zone for a swing and miss."