Crawford To Make Spring Dodger Debut Today As DH Against Brewers

Well, the Dodgers dropped another Cactus League game yesterday to the Rangers 4-0. So what right? These spring games are so meaningless, it’s hard to get worked up about them. It’s also hard to recap them. They don’t mean anything, and I don’t want to burn myself out on spring games before the season begins. We’ll be recapping every game during the regular season. Time to conserve energy. (On a side note, did I forget to mention? It’s St. Patrick’s Day. and my nanna’s Birthday. Happy B-day Nanna!). Sorry guys, but I gotta be bigging up my Nanna on her birthday. She is a huge Dodger fan. Oh I almost forgot. The Dodgers should be wearing their green uniforms right? Every year, it’s a tribute to the O’Malleys.

Speaking of conserving energy, the Dodgers conserved plenty of that yesterday by not hitting at all. The Dodgers only had two hits yesterday, two. Not a joke. Maybe we’ve gotten late enough in the spring where we can stop playing guys like Brian Barden, and Scott Van Slyke? I think we have, there really is no reason to be giving those guys playing time. Actually, Barden was already cut a while ago, but you know what I mean. The Dodgers need to make some cuts, and start giving the regulars some playing time. Speaking of regulars, it looks like it is time for Crawford to make his first start as a Dodger.

Crawford will be making his Dodger debut this afternoon as a DH-Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Carl Crawford is scheduled to make his spring training debut with the Dodgers this afternoon, as a DH. The Dodgers have been talking about Crawford finally being ready to play in games. This week Crawford played in minor league games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and got about 13 at-bats. The Dodgers have been keeping a close eye on Crawford who also threw and played catch this weekend without issue as well for the first time in a couple of weeks. The Dodgers have been very cautious with him as he recovers from Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Don Mattingly didn’t want to confirm until they knew for sure. They wanted to wait and see how Crawford felt to make sure he was ok, but it looks like he will be in the lineup this afternoon in the Dodgers Cactus league game against the Brewers.

The Dodgers actually play two games today during another split squad assignment. The Dodgers play one game at home against the Brewers, and another game on the road against the Dbacks at Salt River Field at Talking Stick Park. Crawford will be playing in the home game at Camelback Ranch against the Brewers. Today he will be batting lead-off and playing as a DH. Remember, the home team gets to choose whether they want to use the DH or not. The Dodgers have chosen to use it for this game. Mattingly has said that Crawford will get three at-bats and that is all for today.

Zack Greinke is also scheduled to throw a very important bullpen session later today. So it seems we have encouraging news on two Dodgers trying to recover from injuries. We will keep you updated on that as well.

Could Crawford be ready by opening day? I guess it’s possible, but who knows. I don’t think he misses more than two weeks of games if he isn’t ready anyways. it seems like the chances of him being ready to go by April 1st, or around that time are looking better by the day. So there is still a chance, Crawford could be ready by Opening Day. We’ll see in time. We have two sets of lineups today. Here is the lineup against Arizona, at Talking Stick.

Dodgers Lineup vs. Arizona

In this game, the Dodgers will give the ball to lefty Ted Lilly. Chris Withrow is also scheduled to get some work in. This is the first time we will have seen Withrow, who has been battling a back injury.

Dodgers Lineup vs. Brewers

In the Milwaukee game, the Dodgers will be starting Hyun-jin Ryu. Both games begin at 1:05 PM. The game against the Brewers is actually televised on KCAL 9, so we should have our first look at Crawford on TV. Hasn’t it felt like it’s been forever since there was a Dodger game televised? It’s been a while. Don’t fret guys, have some faith, Everything should come together just fine in time. Opening day is only two weeks away. Check in with us on twitter, and after the game for more of our blue goggled news and analysis. Go Blue.