Those who have been losing sleep over concerns that Josh Beckett isn’t a good number three or number four in the Dodgers rotation will perhaps sleep a little better from now on, as a slimmer and trimmer Beckett made his first start of spring training on Tuesday afternoon and pitched well; exceptionally well, in fact. Unfortunately, a couple of the reserve Dodger pitchers didn’t fair quite so well as the Dodgers blew an 8-4 lead in the top of the 9th inning an had to settle for an 8-8 tie with the hated Giants.

Josh Beckett was very impressive in his 2013 spring training debut on Tuesday afternoon.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The Dodgers appeared to be headed for a rout of the defending World Champions aided by a three-run home run by center fielder Alex Castellanos, but the wheels fell off in the top of the 9th inning when relievers Kelvin De La Cruz and Gregory Infante each give up two-run home runs in what can only be described as a meltdown of epic proportions. It was the second consecutive disastrous outing for De La Cruz, who may have very well punched his one-way ticket to the minors.

The Dodgers garnered 11 hits on the day including two doubles by outfielder Jeremy Moore. Catcher Wilkin Castillo also collected two hit.

The Dodgers are now 1-1-2 on the young spring season.

Troubled infielder Juan Uribe continued to hit the ball hard but hit into a rally-killing double play on what looked to be a big inning for the Dodgers. It was the third DP that Uribe has hit into in the last two games, which yet again proves that the Dodgers would be best served to simply cut their losses and designate Uribe for assignment. Hopefully Ned Colletti and Don Mattingly will finally come to grips that Uribe is nothing more that a road block on the Dodgers 25-man and 40-man rosters.

The Dodgers travel to Mesa on Wednesday afternoon to face the Cubs at Hohokam Stadium.