DODGERS NOTEBOOK: REPKO HURT MAKING PLAY.Byline: TONY JACKSON
Anthony (Antonio) Jackson, best known as Tony Jackson Staff Writer VERO BEACH Vero Beach (vēr`o), city (1990 pop. 17,350), seat of Indian River co., E Fla., on Indian River (a lagoon and part of the Intracoastal Waterway); founded c.1888, inc. 1919. , Fla. -- The Dodgers got another injury scare Saturday when Jason Repko Jason Edward Repko (born December 27, 1980 in East Chicago, Indiana) is an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Primarily a utility outfielder, his career had been slowed by numerous injuries. , slated to be the club's fourth outfielder In baseball, a fourth outfielder is a backup outfielder who does not have the hitting skills to regularly play in the corner outfield but does not have the fielding skills to play center field. , strained his right groin making a diving catch in a split-squad game against the Florida Marlins The Florida Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From to the present, the Marlins have played in Dolphin Stadium. in Jupiter, Fla. Repko immediately returned to Dodgertown, where he received treatment and a prognosis that initially was favorable. "It's not nearly as bad as I thought," Repko said. "It's not high, so that's a positive. It's in the middle of the quad. We'll know a little more (today), once it kind of settles down a little bit, and go from there." The Dodgers won that game 5-2, but lost to the rest of the Marlins 8-5 at Holman Stadium There are at least two sports venues called Holman Stadium:
Repko went 2 for 5 with twodoubles, raising his spring average to .333. The injury occurred when Paul Hoover This article is about the poet. For the baseball player, see Paul Hoover (baseball). Paul Hoover (born 1946) is an American poet and editor born in Harrisonburg, Virginia. hit a fly ball into the gap and Repko went racing after it. Repko made a spectacular diving catch, but that wasn't the cause of the injury. He said he felt something in his leg a couple of steps before he went airborne. "It tightened up," he said. "It wasn't so much a dive as I just kind of fell." Repko is day-to-day and cautiously optimistic op·ti·mist n. 1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome. 2. A believer in philosophical optimism. op . His spot on the Opening Day roster is basically a lock if he is healthy, and there doesn't seem to be an opening for any of the outfielders trying to make the club out of spring training. But a prolonged injury to Repko could open that door for someone. One possible beneficiary could be non-roster veteran Larry Bigbie Larry Robert Bigbie (b. November 4, 1977, in Hobart, Indiana) is a Major League Baseball left fielder who is currently a minor-league player for the Richmond Braves the triple A affiliate for the Atlanta Braves organization. He attended Ball State University. , who came back to earth, going 0 for 4 without hitting a ball out of the infield. That left his average at a still-impressive .391, but Bigbie is 4 for 18 since getting hits in his first five at-bats. Repko, who played well enough to make the club out of nowhere two springs ago and essentially has been in the majors ever since, is noted for his gritty style of outfield play. Last May 9 at Dodger Stadium • • [ , while trying to make a leaping catch of an uncatchable home-run ball at the center-field wall, Repko sprained his left ankle so severely that he missed 67 games. Final chapter: Rudy Seanez retired the Marlins in order in the eighth inning of the home game, all on ground balls. The non-roster right-hander has set down 12 of the 13batters he has faced this spring. But his chance of making the club probably hinges on the Dodgers trading another veteran reliever before the end of camp. Seanez made his big-league debut in 1989. He now says he is "99.99 percent sure," he will retire if he doesn't make the club. "I won't say never," Seanez said. "But it would have to be an awfully, awfully good situation for me and my family to say I would play. I love to compete, and I still love the pitching, but there comes a time when you have to leave. "I hope I get to stay for a while longer. But I could go the whole spring without giving up a run, and they still might tell me: 'Sorry, this is the situation and the direction we want to go."' Seanez, 38, said he is too old to pitch in Triple-A. He also said he doesn't want to take a Triple-A roster spot and force a deserving pitcher to go to Double-A. tony.jackson@dailynews.com (818) 713-3675 CAPTION(S): box Box: BEYOND THE BOX SCORE - Tony Jackson |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion