--INF Juan Castro, a .228 career hitter in 14 major league seasons, was sizzling in the Cactus League. After singling in his only at-bat March 13 against Texas, Castro was hitting .545 (12-for-22), with half of those hits having gone for extra bases. Castro is in camp as a non-roster invitee and is trying to make the club as a second utility man.
--LHP Hong-Chih Kuo finally made his spring debut on March 12 after manager Joe Torre and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt exercised extreme caution with him because of his history of elbow problems. Kuo, projected as the club's eighth-inning setup man this season, came on in exactly that role and promptly retired the first two batters he faced before giving up a single and hitting a batter, at which point he was removed. Kuo has undergone four elbow operations during his professional career, including two Tommy John surgeries while still in the minor leagues. --RHP Cory Wade, who had been nursing a sore shoulder all spring, mowed down three consecutive batters in his Cactus League debut on March 13 against Texas. Entering to start the eighth inning, Wade got Brandon Boggs to fly to left, Chris Davis to ground to second and Adam Melhuse to ground to first. Wade posted a 2.27 ERA in 55 appearances as a rookie last season.
--OF Xavier Paul, who has little chance of making the club because of a lack of available roster spots, was batting .394 in the Cactus League through March 13. He had six extra-base hits in 33 at-bats. He also had a .429 on-base percentage.
--RHP Hiroki Kuroda had yet to allow a run in his first three Cactus League starts spanning 8 2/3 innings. He was dominant on March 10 against Arizona, when he issued a leadoff walk, then retired the next 10 batters in succession, striking out six of them. Kuroda is the leading candidate at this point to get the ball for the Dodgers' season opener on April 6 at San Diego.
BY THE NUMBERS: 7 -- Teams in a stretch of six seasons that veteran UT Doug Mientkiewicz will have played for if he makes the team out of camp. That appeared to be a longshot, given that he had been made no promises when he signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers earlier this spring and he was hitting .133 (2-for-15) in the Cactus League, albeit with two home runs, through March 13.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Those were supposed to be sliders, but I call them breaking balls now. I don't really know what they were. I was just trying to spin those. That was a pitch I haven't thrown all spring, so I thought I would try it and see what happened. It worked really well, so I will work off that for now." -- RHP Jason Schmidt, after giving up three runs over two innings on March 9 against Texas, his first start against major league competition since June 2007.
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