Dodger Thoughts

For more photos from Saturday, visit LA Photog Blog.

By Jon Weisman

Fun while it lasts: 14 Dodgers have on-base percentages of .400 or greater so far, topped by Joc Pederson (5 for 7, .714) and Alex Guerrero (6 for 9, .667). O’Koyea Dickson (10), Guerrero (nine) and Scott Schebler (eight) lead the team in total bases.

Yasmani Grandal got in the act in a big way during Saturday’s 5-5 tie with the Indians, hitting a home run, a single, and a single that just missed being another home run.

Here’s what we can reflect on as we head into Brandon McCarthy’s first start as a Dodger exhibitioner:

• Grandal on his home run, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com: “I always like to drive the ball the other way. In the offseason, that’s what I worked on a lot instead of jumping at the ball right away,” said Grandal. “A lot of my power is the other way.”
• Carl Crawford fouled a pitch off his shin in the fourth inning Saturday. It wasn’t believed serious, Gurnick reported, but today would bring more enlightenment. (Update: Crawford said today he plans to play Monday.)
• A wild pitch contributed to a run in Mike Bolsinger’s two-inning outing Saturday, while Chad Gaudin stepped in with three strikeouts in two shutout innings. J.P. Hoornstra of the Daily News has quotes from Bolsinger.
• Chin-Hui Tsao came out of minor-league camp to get an inning-ending double-play grounder on his first pitch of relief Saturday, and ended up with the longest outing by a Dodger pitcher so far this year, 2 2/3 innings with three strikeouts.
• Hyun-Jin Ryu is on track to make his first start of 2015 on Thursday against the Padres (and Matt Kemp?) after a successful batting-practice session Saturday, according to Gurnick.
• The Dodgers might add a B game this week to get more innings for pitchers to work, writes Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.
• Thanks to his early start with the Dodgers as a teenager in 1998, Adrian Beltre is the No. 1 candidate to become MLB’s next four-decade player, according to Paul Casella of Sports on Earth. But don’t count out 37-year-old fellow former folk hero Buddy Carlyle and his 284 1/3 big-league innings since 1999.