Rafael Furcal

Aaron Miles is back. The 35-year-old utilityman signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers and is working out at their spring training facility in Arizona. Miles was a pleasant surprise for the Dodgers last season, when he made the team as a non-roster player. He was forced into a more prominent role than expected because of injuries to the likes of Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake and Juan Uribe, and started 110 games. In all, Miles batted .275 with three home runs and 45 RBIs.

As much as real estate is about location, location, location, selling it is about timing and pricing. Former Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal has been trying to sell his home on a golf course in La Canada Flintridge since late 2010. Listed then for $4,449,000, the house reappeared on the Multiple Listing Service priced at $3.8 million just as news of Magic Johnson and company's purchase of the Dodgers broke. Listing agent Susan Mohr of Sotheby's International Realty said she had been working to get the listing ready for about a month.

The Dodgers defeated the Indians, 5-4, on Saturday when they scored three times in the seventh inning -- two on a triple by Luis Cruz-- and yet my favorite part of the game easily came in the first. It included a leadoff bunt single, a steal of second base and an advance to third on the catcher's throwing error, and run-scoring groundout to short. Any guesses? Yep, Dee Gordon struck again. Dropped a little bunt down the third-base line and then created a run almost entirely by himself.

And then on the fifth day of March, they played baseball. Maybe it was only the Dodgers' spring training opener, but given the dearth of anything approaching genuine interest during the first two weeks of camp, it offered a welcome reprieve. It qualified as a nice spring opener too, the Dodgers rolling to a 6-4 victory Monday over their Camelback Ranch neighbors, the Chicago White Sox. The Dodgers mostly played fundamental baseball, received some good performances from several players and an absolutely monstrous home run from their reigning minor league player of the year, Scott Van Slyke.

Reporting from Arlington, Texas -- If Wall Street had a baseball team, it would be a lot like the one the St. Louis Cardinals started the season with. Conservative. Button-down. Quiet. All great traits for bankers. But none of them describe former Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal. There had to be some question about how Furcal's boundless — and noisy — enthusiasm would fit with Team Tepid when the Cardinals acquired him from the Dodgers hours before the July trade deadline.

Reporting from Atlanta -- Is Dee Gordon ready to be an everyday player? Is James Loney worth retaining at a price tag of $6 million or so? Is A.J. Ellis a major league catcher? If there's a benefit to being as far out of contention as the Dodgers find themselves, it's that they can use the final month of the season to evaluate their roster. Most prominent of the Dodgers' questions is at shortstop, where the 23-year-old Gordon started Friday at Turner Field. "This last month really determines if this is the guy who can play short next year," Manager Don Mattingly said.

Reporting from Pittsburgh — If you are 23 years old and have never previously been injured, a few weeks on the disabled list can feel like a long time. "The longest time in the history of life," Dee Gordon said. In his return from his three-week exile, the rookie shortstop was two for five with a two-run double and a run scored in the Dodgers' 6-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. The Dodgers' ninth victory in 10 games was a makeup game for a contest that was rained out on May 12. The fleet-footed Gordon led off the game with a single.

Reporting from Pittsburgh — Casey Blake tried playing hurt. Juan Uribe tried resting. But the Dodgers' two injury-riddled infielders are expected to end their seasons the same way: on the operating table. Surgeries are planned for Blake and Uribe in the coming weeks, with Blake scheduled for a neck operation on Tuesday and Uribe receiving a second opinion before undergoing a procedure to repair a sports hernia. "It's really a microcosm of what's happened to us," Manager Don Mattingly said.

Reporting from St. Louis — Now wearing Cardinals red instead of Dodgers blue, veteran shortstop Rafael Furcal said he was adjusting quickly to his new surroundings in St. Louis. "I'm doing pretty good," he said before Monday's game. "I'm not hitting the way I'm used to hitting, but I'm playing good defense and I'm on the bases a lot of times. " Coincidentally, it was a defensive play involving Furcal that later was the difference in the Dodgers' 2-1 win. Aaron Miles scored from third base ahead of a throw by Furcal to the plate.

Reporting from St. Louis — For eight innings, the St. Louis Cardinals' veteran pitcher Chris Carpenter extended his career-long mastery over the Dodgers while clinging to a one-run lead Monday night at Busch Stadium. But then Carpenter hit the Dodgers' Juan Rivera with a pitch to start the ninth inning, and by the time it ended, the Dodgers had scored twice to win, 2-1, after key plays involving a former Cardinal now with the Dodgers and a current Cardinal who just left the Dodgers.