Boxscores

It is the beginning of the long romance, the baseball edition. once you have boxscores, you have measurement, you have action and reaction, and you something more than "we're good on paper".

When they begin to engage daily, it never stops until they hoist the World Series trophy in October. once they start appearing in print, or on-line, we begin to make decisions, too fast at times, because with so many "B" games, batting averages, and earned run averages can be misleading. Aaron Hill is hitting .800, so I guess he'll win the batting title.

Rickey Romero is mowing down guys destined to play in Triple AAA, or even Double AA, so can we really believe his gaudy numbers. No, well at least not until the last 7-10 days of camp.

That's when teams have dispatched the prospects that need more playing time, or seasoning, and we have 3-5 extra bodies fighting to avoid being the last few cuts. Those guys make the team, or they get released, so the talent level is at it's highest point. Until the bell rings.

So, boxscores, what do they mean right now ?

They show who is getting looked at, how many innings they throw, and against what opposite talent. What positions are being played by whom ? Is player A more valuable because he can play the infield and the outfield. Can anyone be an emergency catcher ?

Injury updates:

Alex Gordon , cracked his thumb , out 3-4 weeks, - gives Callaspo a shot of staying as a regular.

Russell Martin, out about the same length of time,- this hurts the Dodgers pitching staff more, as he

is integral to bonding with the staff.

Joe Nathan, maybe the year, maybe a month, ligament tear might spell a Tommy John solution

Some jobs just got easier with key players on the shelf, some fights are still developing.

Always , your intrepid reporter is watching, and reading the boxscores for clues like Sherlock Holmes, hoping to solve the mysteries of spring training games.