Dodgers

Kasten practical choice Peter Schmuck Baltimore Sun This is almost a trick question. The Dodgers need somebody to ride in on a white horse and remind fans that they're still the Dodgers and that happy days will soon be here again. The perfect guy for that particular assignment would be former owner Peter O'Malley. But it seems unlikely that Bud Selig would offer him the assignment, and it's also questionable whether O'Malley would accept it unless he's in a position to buy a controlling interest in the team, which I'm guessing he's not. Which brings us to the more practical candidate, former Braves and Nationals President Stan Kasten, a tough operator who knows the game inside and out and knows where all the bodies are buried.

The nomadic professional baseball career of Orioles left-hander Dana Eveland has seen its share of spring training sites. When the 28-year-old pitcher arrived at the Ed Smith Stadium Complex last weekend, it marked Eveland's seventh stint with a big league organization in as many years. The Orioles hope Eveland, acquired in a trade with the Dodgers during this offseason's winter meetings for a pair of prospects, has found his form. Eveland - on the other hand - hopes he's found a home.

The Orioles are officially up to three candidates for their vacant top executive post after interviewing 45-year-old De Jon Watson on Wednesday. It is expected the club will talk to one, and potentially two, more candidates before wrapping up the process, which began last week with the interviews of Arizona senior vice president Jerry Dipoto and Toronto assistant general manager Tony LaCava. Wednesday was Watson's turn to meet with the committee, which includes manager Buck Showalter, club general counsel H. Russell Smouse, managing partner Peter Angelos and his son, Lou. Like the previous candidates, Watson has a wealth of experience in scouting and development.

There were no splashes by the Orioles at the winter meetings this week, no big-name signings or trades that signal to a beleaguered fan base that things are looking up after 14 years of losing. New executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette, however, believes his two, under-the-radar, no-fanfare moves — both announced on Thursday's final day of the sport's annual offseason gathering — fill necessary holes as he attempts to improve the club's depth. "Things are coming along.

The Orioles have completed a deal for pitcher Dana Eveland, sending a minor league pitcher and outfielder to the Dodgers for a journeyman left-hander who had a solid season at Triple-A Albuquerque last year and pitched well after being called up to the majors in September. The Orioles gave up lefty Jarret Martin, 22, and outfielder Tyler Henson, 23, for Eveland. Eveland was 3-2 with a 3.03 ERA in five September starts but was considered a candidate to be nontendered this winter by the Dodgers.

Baseball briefs:* Lefthander John Candelaria has accepted an invitation to the Los Angeles Dodgers' spring training and will be competing for a bullpen spot. In 1990, Candelaria, 37, was 7-3 with a 3.39 ERA with the Minnesota Twins and 0-3 with a 5.48 ERA with the Toronto Blue Jays.* Dodgers righthander Orel Hershiser took a small step towards the starting rotation yesterday when he faced hitters for the first time in 10 months and was satisfied with the results. Hershiser, who underwent reconstructive surgery on his right shoulder last April 27, threw 26 pitches to batters at Dodger Stadium.

The game Jerry Hairston and Tony Batista homered off reliever Ricardo Rodriguez, and the Orioles took advantage of five Los Angeles errors, including an errant pickoff throw by reliever Lindsay Gulin with the bases loaded that scored two runs. Third baseman Adrian Beltre made two throwing errors in the same inning, and left fielder Marquis Grissom dropped a fly ball. Only five of the Orioles' runs were earned, and the Dodgers wasted 16 hits. The arms Josh Towers went two scoreless innings.

Littering the bases Orioles starter Steve Trachsel went four innings yesterday. Only one of them was clean. Trachsel allowed four runs (three earned) and seven hits, walked one and didn't record a strikeout. He faced 19 batters. The Dodgers almost hit for the cycle in the third, getting a single, two doubles and a triple. Andruw Jones bounced an RBI single up the middle in the first after an error and walk put Trachsel in trouble. Rafael Furcal, Delwyn Young and Matt Kemp drove in runs in the third, but Trachsel blanked the Dodgers in the fourth despite allowing two singles.

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- The dissolution of Fernandomania reached its somber conclusion yesterday when Los Angeles Dodgers officials decided they had seen their once-great pitcher struggle for the last time.In a tiny, windowless office here in Dodgertown, Fernando Valenzuela, at 30, was told that he no longer was a Dodger. Intending to give him his unconditional release, the Dodgers put him on waivers."They call me into the office and say, 'This is very hard for us,' " Valenzuela said. "I said, 'What is so hard?

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Los Angeles Dodger left-handed reliever Steve Wilson was released yesterday after clearing waivers.Wilson, 29, never equaled the success he had in helping the Dodgers down the stretch in 1991. After the Dodgers had claimed him on waivers that September from the Chicago Cubs, Wilson did not give up a run and yielded only one hit in 11 games, a total of 8 1/3 innings.

The Orioles have completed a deal for pitcher Dana Eveland, sending a minor league pitcher and outfielder to the Dodgers for a journeyman left-hander who had a solid season at Triple-A Albuquerque last year and pitched well after being called up to the majors in September. The Orioles gave up lefty Jarret Martin, 22, and outfielder Tyler Henson, 23, for Eveland. Eveland was 3-2 with a 3.03 ERA in five September starts but was considered a candidate to be nontendered this winter by the Dodgers.

The Orioles' parade of general manager candidates started again Thursday with former club executive Scott Proefrock and will continue Friday with former Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos general manager Dan Duquette. It also is expected to include New York Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer — perhaps as early as Saturday — Minnesota Twins vice president Mike Radcliff and Boston Red Sox vice president and former Kansas City Royals GM Allard Baird, according to an industry source.

The Orioles are officially up to three candidates for their vacant top executive post after interviewing 45-year-old De Jon Watson on Wednesday. It is expected the club will talk to one, and potentially two, more candidates before wrapping up the process, which began last week with the interviews of Arizona senior vice president Jerry Dipoto and Toronto assistant general manager Tony LaCava. Wednesday was Watson's turn to meet with the committee, which includes manager Buck Showalter, club general counsel H. Russell Smouse, managing partner Peter Angelos and his son, Lou. Like the previous candidates, Watson has a wealth of experience in scouting and development.

Don't spoil the fun Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune Please, Bud Selig, don't step in. For the good of the sport, Major League Baseball will probably step in to seize control of the Dodgers from Frank McCourt. But watching from a distance there's something entertaining about the whole fiasco. What will Frank do next? Will he hire himself as the third-base coach, paid $10 million a year? Will he sack Ned Colletti and hire his son as general manager, at $20 million a year?

It was no thanks to Larry Jaster that the Dodgers made a second consecutive trip to the World Series in 1966. The rookie left-hander from the St. Louis Cardinals pitched five shutouts in 1966 — all, remarkably, against the National League champions. So rare was the feat — shutting out an opponent five times in one season — that it hadn't been done in 50 years and has not been duplicated in nearly 50 years since. "The longer it went on," Jaster says, "the more they were pressured to stop it, which worked in my favor.

To say that this week has been a good one for Harford County baseball players would be a grave understatement, as over a two-day period three local athletes were selected by major league teams in the MLB 2011 Amateur Draft, with two of them going to the Baltimore Orioles. Teammates on the John Carroll squad, Kevin Hockaday and Brendan Butler were both picked up by Baltimore, in the 14th and 50th rounds, respectively, while Fallston alum and Rider University standout Mike Thomas was taken by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 35th round.

ST. LOUIS -- Despite a previous denial by the Los Angeles Dodgers, the resignation of club security chief Jim Italiano may have been linked to an alleged beating in the Dodger Stadium parking lot of a black man whom Dodgers security believed was a scalper.According to a source familiar with the incident, the man was visiting Los Angeles in late July and had tickets to a game during the first homestand after the All-Star break. He was confronted in the parking lot by security guards who allegedly beat him and yelled racial remarks at him. Italiano was allegedly at the scene of the incident.

SMITHFIELD, N.C. — This used to be tobacco country. Still is, but the demand for tobacco is down, the demand for soybeans and sweet potatoes is up, and the farmers have adjusted accordingly. This is not a land of pretense. On the highway leading into town, a small green sign celebrates a hometown star. The star is not Ava Gardner — the Hollywood glamour girl who was born nearby and was buried here, the legendary actress and onetime wife of Frank Sinatra. The star is a guy who made it to the major leagues and hit .230.

There's nothing funny about the fall of Frank McCourt and his ongoing battle with Major League Baseball, which is ushering him out as owner of the Dodgers. But around MLB's offices in New York, some people are having a hard time not laughing about McCourt's claim Commissioner Bud Selig is ducking him. "There is no owner who during the period Frank has been in the game (2004-11), who has consumed more of the commissioner's time, more of the commissioner's office's time," MLB executive vice president for labor relations Rob Manfred said Friday.