Castro and Miles fuel Dodgers – Brewers 6-6 Tie

Yes you read the title correctly. 2 more hits, an RBI and a run scored, for Aaron Miles, as well as a stellar diving play at third where he showed off his arm to get the runner on a bang bang play at 1st base. The dream that is “Aaron Miles your opening day 2nd baseman” all but seems a reality now. Seriously he could go hitless the rest of camp and probably make the squad. If Casey Blake starts the season on the DL, the switch hitting Miles could get the start over the right handed hitting Jamey Carroll vs Tim Lincecum.

Also 2 hits (1 a high chopper over a drawn in 3rd baseman the other a blooper) and 2 runs scored for Juan Castro. Is it really possible that the Dodgers bench to start the season (If Blake is on the DL) could be a combination of Miles, Castro, Gwynn/Gibbons/Thames and Navarro? Excuse me while I go throw up now.

The Good:

• Aside from Miles and Castro, Marcus Thames made a sliding catch in foul territory, in all likelihood it was a routine play that Thames turned into a highlight reel catch, but he did make the play.
• Scott Elbert had his best outing of the Spring. Pitching a 1,2,3 8th inning, and only falling behind 1 batter, who he eventually got to fly out. Elbert hit 94 MPH on the radar gun and actually pitched with confidence. One can only hope this outing helps the young man, who seems to have so much pressure heaped on him, pitch with confidence the rest of camp.
• Hector Gimenez doubled, then walked and stole a base in his two at bats from the left side of the plate, he was 0 for 3 hitting right handed.
• Jay Gibbons contact lens issue may have been a real dilemma, he worked a walk in his first AB, got his 1st RBI of the Spring on a groundout in the 8th, and was robbed of his first extra-base hit in the 10th inning on a great running catch by Chris Dickerson.
• Good news from Ken Gurnick at MLB.com on Vicente Padilla’s injury, the news is not as promising for Casey Blake.

The Bad:

• Hiroki Kuroda gave up 9 hits and 3 earned runs in 5 and two thirds innings pitched.
• Ramon Troncoso  gave up 2 hits and a run, walked the opposing pitcher (Randy Wolf) and allowed 2 inherited runners to score. He was pitching on back to back days for some reason, the first Dodger pitcher this Spring to do so.
• Xavier Paul struck out looking twice against Wolf and later flew out, this after I spent all morning making a case for him to make the final 25 man roster over Gibbons. I have to keep reminding myself that there are 11 days before opening day and still a lot of baseball left to play. Also people a lot smarter than me will be making the final decisions on who makes the team, that doesn’t mean I have to agree with them though.
• The Dodger defense committed 2 more errors, only the Cubs and Padres have more errors this Spring than the Dodgers.
• Jay Gibbons had a hard time fielding a ball hit in the left field corner (perhaps he was looking for a lost contact lens while he was there) allowing a less than fleet of foot runner to score from first base; which surprised even the Brewers announcers, who quickly praised their new third base coach.

The Ugly:

• The Dodger lineup was without Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, and James Loney, let’s hope we don’t have that same scenario at any point during the regular season.
• Travis Schlichting allowed 3 more hits and 2 more earned runs to see his Spring ERA rise to 10.38, he may want to consider shaving the Mullet now.

The Dodgers travel to Camelback Ranch to play a road game at home tomorrow vs the White Sox. The Dodgers snapped a 3 game winning streak today, and they now have 8 wins, 15 loses, and 1 tie so far this Spring.