mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi">ANAHEIM, Calif. — The
next three days are the most important in the soon-to-be 14-year baseball
career of Scott Rice.
The 6-6 left-hander from Simi Valley, Calif., is battling Josh Lindblom for the
final spot on the Dodgers' pitching staff, an opening created by Ted Lilly's
sore neck. Manager Don Mattingly said the competition is even, and that' he'll
likely wait until the final day to make a decision.
The 24-year old Lindblom has pitched just 29.2 career innings for the Dodgers —
all of them in 2011 — when he went 1-0 with a 2.73 ERA and 28 strikeouts. But
when you compare his major league experience to that of Rice's, there's
literally no comparison. During Rice’s 11 years in pro baseball, he has never
pitched in a big league game. In fact, he's never been in uniform for a major
league regular-season game, or even had his name attached to a 40-man roster.
He's been injured many times, missing full seasons, and he's gone the
independent league route to try and get that one more shot at his dream.
Yet here he is, on the verge of making the Dodgers’ staff.
"This would obviously be a dream come true for me," Rice said before the
first game of the exhibition Freeway Series between the Dodgers and Angels
Monday night at Angels' Stadium. "I grew up here and I went to so many
games at Dodger Stadium that it would be amazing if my first big league game
was there.
"It's all pretty exciting."
Which it was supposed to be all along for the Baltimore Orioles' first-round
pick.
His first full season as a reliever was 2003, and it looked like he found his
niche, going 5-4 with five saves and a 1.83 ERA. He even got a call-up from the
Orioles in 2006, but never made it to Baltimore.
He broke his finger after closing it in a hotel room door the night before he
was supposed to report to the majors. That basically ended his career with the
Orioles, and Rice found himself in the Texas Rangers organization in 2007.
He was about to make the team out of spring training, but he blew out his
flexor tendon, and missed the next 2½ seasons. He says they misdiagnosed his
injury, causing a longer recovery, and nearly ending his career.
Back on the mound for the San Diego organization in 2009, Rice shuffled between
Double and Triple A with the Padres and Colorado Rockies, with a few indie
stints tossed in.
But in 2011 the Dodgers signed him and changed his life. He
went 4-4 with a 1.95 ERA in 34 games at Double-A Chattanooga, and was invited
to spring training as a non-roster player.
Six weeks later and on the verge of making a major league staff, Rice says the
whole experience has turned out to be a positive one.
"Obviously, I've had a lot of bad luck, bad timing in some
situations," said Rice, who has a save, a 3.86 ERA and nine strikeouts in
9.1 innings pitched this spring. "But I've taken a lot of learning
experiences from it, and I feel it's made me grow as a player and a person. I
feel like I'm more prepared than I ever was. I've definitely learned a lot about
myself through it all.
"If you don't take (the run of bad luck) as a negative, and you turn it
into a positive, it can only help you."
It's definitely helped him make an impression on his new battery mate, A.J.
Ellis.
"I got to know him as a person before I did as a pitcher," Ellis
related, "and he turned out to be a great guy and a great personality in
the clubhouse. (Rice won the Dodger Clubhouse Idol contest, singing a parody
song about fellow reliever Kenley Jansen).
“Later we began to talk about his pitching and what he liked
to throw, and he told me he had a fastball, a nice sinking fastball. We went
out there, and seven pitches later we had three ground ball outs. I thought to
myself 'this guy has a legit major league sinker' and I immediately got excited.
I'm glad to see that he's carried it throughout the entire spring.
"He's made a huge impression on not only the coaching staff but the
catching staff as well. We always talk about the different pitchers and their
(best) pitches, and we love to talk about Scott's sinker."
Ellis was right on when he talked about the coaching staff's feeling about
Rice. The man who will make the final decision — Mattingly — seems to like what
he's seen so far.
"Scottie's interesting, that for sure," the manager said. "We have
one more spot left and we haven't made that (decision) yet, so he's definitely
still on the radar.
"He's interesting from the standpoint that he's an older guy, he's been
around for a while and he's fought through some injuries. It seems like he's figured
out who he is as a pitcher, and he's been really impressive this spring. I've
stood in (the batter's box) against him, and his sinker dives straight down. If
he can stay down in the strike zone, he can get out righties and lefties.
Again, he's really interesting.
"We've tried to use him at a point in games where he's facing big league
hitters and trying to get them out, but it's spring and the hitters aren't
completely into it yet, bearing down 100 percent. We've tried to read between
the lines during his outings, but he definitely has a big league sinker."
It looks like he might have a big league career as well, something he almost
gave up on.
"Yeah, I thought about moving on," Rice said, "but I have a
great support system in my wife (Ladawn) and my family, and when I was down,
they told me that if this was still my dream, then to go for it. It's been a
big help in keeping me going."
