Dodgers Fall to Cubs in Walk-Off Fashion

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It took 10 innings but the Chicago Cubs finally were able to put away the Dodgers, who rested most of their regulars. DJ LeMahieu hit a walk-off shot off of Luis Vasquez in his 1st spring training AB to lead the Cubs to a 5-3 extra inning win.

Game Notes-

Positives:

  • Chad Billingsley hit his 60 pitch limit in 3 2/3 innings pitched, albeit without his best stuff, according to Ken Gurnick at MLB.com
  • Ramon Troncoso retired all four batters he faced and has allowed only one hit in 3 1/3 shutout innings this spring . Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com, writes that Troncoso looks more like the valuable reliever he was in 2008 and ’09 vs the guy Joe Torre burned out last year by seemingly using him in almost every Dodger game the 1st 2 months of last season.
  • Birthday boy Marcus Thames had an RBI double, Jay Gibbons finally got his first hit of the spring and his now batting a whopping .111 so far this spring
  • Aaron Miles tripled in his only at-bat and is now batting .333 this spring, Juan Castro was 1-3 and is hitting .364, both making strong cases for Utility Infielder spots on the final 25  man roster 
  • Ivan De Jesus, Jr. made a sweet backhand grab running into the outfield, which no doubt drew a huge smile from the Cubs’ third-base coach, his father Ivan De Jesus, Sr.

Negatives:

  • Jerry Sands showed he’s human by striking out in his only 2 AB’s his batting averge plummeted to .364
  • Justin Sellers, making an unexpected start for a banged up Jamey Caroll and a resting Rafael Furcal, made 2 ugly errors on the 1st ball hit to him which led to the Cubs first run.
  • James Loney’s knee injury doesn’t appear too serious. Several pieces provide in-depth news including Ken Gurnick at MLB.com and Steve Dilbeck at the LA Times

Travis Schlichting created quite the buzz when he showed up at camp today with what Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports has labeled the greatest Mullet in the history of  baseball. The complete story can be found here and is a must read it’s hilarious. Hopefully it helps him to start pitching better.

The Dodgers face the Colorado Rockies and Ubaldo Jimenez tomorrow.