For as long as I can remember – and I’m old – the term ‘Meaningless Spring Training game(s)’ has always … always irked me. I fully get that the annual 35-ish games played in February and March have zero bearing whatsoever on the upcoming season, nor do they count towards the annual baseball statistics that all of us cherish so very much.

But answer me this: Do you think that the grand slam home run that Dodgers outfielder Paulo Orlando hit in the eighth inning on Friday night against the Cincinnati Reds at Goodyear Ballpark that helped turn a 1-0 deficit into a dominating 8-1 Dodgers win was ‘meaningless’ to the extremely polite 33-year-old Sao Paulo, Brazil native and four-year MLB veteran?

I think not.

“I was excited, our guys didn’t quit,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told SportsNet LA’s Alanna Rizzo after the game. “They didn’t quit playing and it’s a baseball game. And for Paulo to hit a homer like that and all these guys you don’t get to see a lot have some success and help us win the baseball game is fun.”

Ironically, Orlando, one of only two current players in the Dodgers Spring Training clubhouse with a World Series ring (along with [uggh] former Red Sox right-hander Joe Kelly), is no stranger to hitting grand slams. He also hit one on July 7, 2015 while with the Kansas City Royals, the team with whom he won the aforementioned World Series ring that same season. In fact, that slam, Orlando’s only regular season grand slam of his 14 MLB career home runs, was a walk-off winner.

Meaningless?

Yeah, right.

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