Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Team

Many interviews early in spring training start the same way: How was your winter? "Unbelievable," Matt Kemp said. Casey Blake interrupted. "Are you kidding?" he said. "Did you check out the magazines? You know he had a great off-season." Kemp doubled over in a half-smile, half-grimace and whispered something to Blake, who laughed. In an off-season in which owner Frank McCourt's divorce proceedings dominated the Dodgers-related headlines, Kemp was the one player who managed to remain in the spotlight.

On a June day in 2003, Paige Bilbrey was on the phone frantically trying to reach her boss, former Los Angeles Dodger great Steve Garvey, at Le Parc Hotel in Paris, where he was attending the French Open tennis tournament. The matter couldn't wait: Standing in the lobby of Garvey's hilltop mansion outside Park City, Utah, was an employee of the local power company. Pay the overdue bill, the man said, or he'd turn off the lights. The incident wasn't the result of an embarrassing oversight.

The Dodgers could seek to keep their player payroll below last year's level through 2018 while the average ticket price and club revenue could nearly double, according to confidential financial documents included in a court filing last week. The documents, submitted by former Dodgers chief executive Jamie McCourt in divorce proceedings against owner Frank McCourt, offer a rare glimpse into the finances of a major league club. The documents -- prepared by the McCourt management team in May to solicit Chinese investors for a partnership that could have included the Dodgers, a soccer club in Beijing and another in the English Premier League -- show that the Dodgers spent $128 million in player compensation for their 40-man roster in 2007, then spent $123 million in 2008.

Reporting from Phoenix Closer Jonathan Broxton and setup man George Sherrill were far from perfect Tuesday in their first outings of the spring, giving up a combined four runs and five hits over 1 2/3 innings of a 12-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Camelback Ranch. But neither seemed to care, Broxton pointing to his health and Sherrill to his dismal history in the Cactus League. Broxton, who is scheduled to pitch 10 or 11 innings this spring, said his main goal is to make it through the exhibition season without getting hurt.

When he heard the snap of a speeding baseball crashing into Hiroki Kuroda's skull, his knees buckled on the dugout steps. Once he recovered, he sprinted to the mound, kneeling near the Dodgers pitcher, who lay in a heap. "Hiroki, turn over," said the interpreter, a former Spanish teacher named Kenji Nimura who was born in Japan and raised in Los Angeles. For two seasons he has been the pitcher's steady hand, a linguistic link between America and Japan. "Hiroki, do you feel nauseous?"

Matt Kemp walked out of the clubhouse, bat in hand and helmet tucked under his armpit. The non-roster players sat quietly in front of their lockers along the back wall. A small circle of reporters stood in the middle of the room making dinner plans. To nearly everyone, this particular morning felt like any other. Except to Hong-Chih Kuo. Simply being in the room to observe the slow morning unfold was fun, the Taiwanese left-hander said. "I think I'm one of the luckiest guys in the world," he said.

Randy Wolf never has been confused with Johan Santana. However, the Dodgers' recent decision not to offer salary arbitration to Wolf raised concerns among fans. The Dodgers led the major leagues in attendance last season, advancing to the National League Championship Series for the second consecutive year. Wolf was their most dependable pitcher, and yet the Dodgers decided they could not afford to risk him accepting a one-year contract at an uncertain price. As Wolf, John Lackey, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay have joined new teams, the pitching-depleted Dodgers have imported no player more significant than utility infielder Jamey Carroll.

The battle for Los Angeles' storied baseball team hit the courts Tuesday when former Dodgers chief executive Jamie McCourt filed a divorce petition laying claim to half of the team and other assets she valued at more than $1 billion. In the petition, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Jamie McCourt claimed irreconcilable differences and asked for immediate reinstatement to the job from which her husband, Frank, fired her a week ago. Frank McCourt countered with his own filing, asking the court to declare him the sole owner of the team at once, then handle the larger divorce case later.

While the Dodgers' acquisition of a top starting pitcher before the trading deadline remains woefully uncertain, one thing has become wonderfully clear. They just got their ace. Vin Scully, thought to be retiring this winter after 60 seasons, said this week he is planning on coming back for one more summer. Scully, 81, said if he continues to feel well he will work past his landmark year and retire after the 2010 season.

The questions regarding James Loney have never changed: Will he ever hit for power? If so, when? "I feel this is the year," Loney said Friday, the day of the Dodgers' first full-squad workout of spring training. Loney, 25, drove in 90 runs for the second consecutive year last season -- but also hit only 13 home runs for the second consecutive year. Reporting to camp looking leaner but more muscular, Loney said he is under the 215 pounds he weighed in past springs. "I feel stronger," he said.