Pregame news and notes …

  • Bus service from Union Station to Dodger Stadium for all home games will be back in 2011, thanks to a $450,000 grant awarded to MetroLink by the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee. Service will begin 90 minutes before games and end 45 minutes after.
  • The Dodgers have signed a new deal for Spanish-language broadcasts with KTNQ 1020 AM.
  • The extra Spring Training game benefiting the Tucson Together Fund, in memory of the victims of the January shooting in Tucson and to raise money for their families, is officially set for March 25.
  • Don Mattingly told reporters today that outfielder Marcus Thames is nursing some heel discomfort. He has been given a new set of spikes and will rest Saturday.
  • Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com thinks Mike MacDougal is a “clear favorite” to make the Opening Day roster. I’ll admit I was a little taken aback … taken aback to last year’s March of the Ortizii.
  • Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports took Russell Martin to task for his lack of personal accountability over his Dodger demise.
  • Rich Lederer of Baseball Analysts went through the archives to tell the story of Duke Snider attempting to throw a baseball out of the Coliseum.
  • Rubby De La Rosa is 22 today.

Giants at Dodgers, 6:05 p.m.