Around NL West Spring Training, 3/19: Vin Scully Taken To Hospital

Diamondbacks The battle to be Brandon Webb’s (hopefully) temporary replacement appears to be down to Rodrigo Lopez and Kevin Mulvey after Bryan Augenstein was sent to Triple-A camp. Both men pitched in a 6-3 loss to the A’s on Thursday. Lopez pitched three shutout innings, allowing one hit; Mulvey took the loss, but was a victim of poor defense, all four runs he gave up being unearned. Only eight points of ERA separate the two men this spring.

Dodgers Iconic LA broadcaster Vin Scully was taken to hospital Thursday night after getting up from bed too quickly and bumping his head. Given his age of 82, this is largely precautionary, and he is expected to be in Arizona this weekend for a game on Sunday against Cleveland. He started with the Dodgers in 1950, making this his 60th year with the organization, easily the longest of any current broadcaster with a single team.

Giants McCovey Chronicles likes new hitting coach Hensley Meulens, but has a request for the organization. “Something else I’d like the Giants to do, from the front office on down, is to seek out evidence when forming an opinion.” Grant reckons the team relied too much on hunches, which last season led to them “trying to find the Magic Wyvern-Repelling Laser Gun in case they were attacked by wyverns, but they were doing it when the place was on fire.”

Padres While most pundits expect slugging first-baseman Adrian Gonzalez to leave San Diego, there is still discussion between the two sides over a possible extension. Gonzalez is not averse to deferring some money as part of the deal, but a follow-up tweet from the author says the Padres are only willing to do so if no interest is applied to the money.

Rockies A sigh of relief from Colorado, as the MRI on closer Huston Street showed no structural damage. Tim Redding will pitch out of the bullpen today, possibly moving there as part of the Street situation. Another of their injured relievers, Rafael Betancourt, will throw a simulated game on Saturday, and if that goes well, should see action in multiple contests next week. There are also unconfirmed reports the team is looking at Royals’ reliever Juan Cruz.