Zach Lee

Reporting from Tucson, Ariz. -- Would LSU have beaten Alabama for the BCS championship this football season if Zach Lee were their quarterback? Lee laughed at the question. “It's all 'what ifs' you know?” Lee said. “You never know. We may not have gotten there if I was the quarterback.” The former two-sport star, who the Dodgers paid $5.25 million to walk away from a football scholarship at LSU, pitched in his first major league game Friday. The 20-year-old right-hander tossed a perfect seventh inning in the Dodgers' 17-4 thrashing of the Chicago White Sox, forcing two groundouts and striking out Jose Martinez.

Whatever lingering doubts the Dodgers had about South Korean pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu were likely alleviated -- at least a bit -- when the left-hander struck out five of the nine batters he retired Wednesday in a solid Cactus League performance against the Cleveland Indians at Goodyear, Ariz. The Dodgers lost that game, 4-0, while a split squad trampled Mexico's World Baseball Classic team, 10-2, at Camelback Ranch. Matt Kemp had a pair of runs batted in against Mexico, both coming on fielder's choice grounders, while Andre Ethier hit his first home run of the spring, a majestic shot with Kemp aboard in the first inning.

The Dodgers barely beat the clock, signing first-round pick Zach Lee on Monday, just minutes before their exclusive negotiating window with the two-sport star was about to expire. Lee, who many teams considered unsignable after the 6-foot-4 right-handed pitcher expressed a desire to play football at Louisiana State, was battling for a spot on the Tigers' depth chart at quarterback this summer. Terms were not released but reports have put the terms at $5.25 million over five years.

Padres 7, Dodgers 5 (split squad) AT THE PLATE: Hanley Ramirez had two hits and stole two bases, including home on the back end of a double steal. He also drove in his fourth run of the spring, giving him a share of the team lead. The Ellises - second baseman Mark and catcher A.J. (no relation) combined to go two for three with a single, double, walk, two runs scored and two runs batted in. ON THE MOUND: Starter Zack Greinke gave up two runs, five hits and a walk in three innings in which he was bailed out twice on double plays.

Even now, just days after signing the player most major league teams considered unsignable, Dodgers Assistant General Manager Logan White won't say exactly how he pulled it off. No good magician, it seems, gives up his secrets. But White will talk about the props he used to lure first-round draft pick Zach Lee and his family away from football — a newspaper article and former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner. The newspaper story, White said, discussed how the pressure to meet expectations immediately had some pro football stars referring to the NFL as the Not For Long league.

Logan White brags how he lured first-round draft pick Zach Lee to give up football and instead sign with the Dodgers with the use of a newspaper article and a mention of Kurt Warner. I imagine the conversation went something like this: Logan White: The Dodgers offer you a $5.25-million signing bonus. Zach Lee: Where do I sign?! White: Did you know that Kurt Warner didn't reach the NFL until he was 27 years old? Lee: That's $5.25 million over five years, right?

All spring Zach Lee was telling anyone who would listen that he was more interested in playing college football than professional baseball. Apparently, the Dodgers weren't listening. Because in June they drafted him anyway and two months later Lee, true to his words, is taking snaps at Louisiana State while the Dodgers are left facing a Monday evening deadline to talk him back to baseball or forfeit their first-round pick. And that's going to be hard to do since Lee says he and the Dodgers haven't talked since draft day, two days before he started summer school at LSU. "I haven't really heard anything from them," Lee told reporters at LSU football media day last week.

Class; City; W-L ; Comment AAA; Albuquerque; 29-24; Dee Gordon hitting .304 with 20 steals in 23 tries. AA; Chattanooga; 25-29; Shawn Tolleson continues quick climb, allows one hit in two outings. A; Rancho Cucamonga; 31-23; OF Angelo Songco hits .331 with six homers in May. A; Great Lakes; 29-25; Zach Lee allows 6 runs, retires 2 batters in return from MRI. R; Ogden; 0-0; Season begins June 20.

Reporting from Phoenix -- Andre Ethier is paying for new uniforms for the baseball team at inner-city Camelback High. Ethier attended nearby St. Mary's High in Phoenix. “I've been pretty excited and choked up about this,” Camelback Coach Todd Goertzen said. Camelback reached the state finals in 1985, but the baseball program declined as the surrounding neighborhood changed. Most of the players are sons of Mexican immigrants who didn't play baseball before high school because of the high cost of equipment.

Reporting from Philadelphia Dee Gordon might have benefited from playing out the remainder of the triple-A season and waiting until September for his first major league call-up, General Manager Ned Colletti conceded. But the Dodgers couldn't wait, not with Rafael Furcal on the disabled list. So, the Dodgers called up their top position player prospect Monday, the same day they activated infielder Juan Uribe , outfielder Marcus Thames and reliever Blake Hawksworth . The Dodgers cleared room on their active roster by sending John Ely and Ivan De Jesus Jr. to triple-A Albuquerque and designating Juan Castro and Jay Gibbons for assignment.

Don't forget now, it's a process! Spring training, getting in shape, working on timing, pulling together as a team. It's the same refrain every year, but at least the Dodgers had to feel they were making some small forward movement in their spring route Friday when Matt Kemp made his first appearance in a game. On the same day the Dodgers learned outfielder Carl Crawford was being shut down for at least a week and may not be ready by opening day , Kemp played in his first game since undergoing off-season shoulder surgery.

Adrian Gonzalez is not in the Boston Red Sox lineup for tonight's game against the Kansas City Royals in Boston, another indicator that the left-handed-hitting slugger could be headed to the Dodgers. Gonzalez had been at first base in 123 of the Red Sox' 125 games. And at Dodger Stadium, James Loney has been scratched from the starting lineup for tonight's game against the Miami Marlins. Loney is in a first-base platoon with Juan Rivera, but Loney starts against right-handers.

The wheels appear to be turning on a blockbuster deal between the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox involving All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. The Dodgers have demoted hard-throwing right-hander Rubby De La Rosa in the latest move involving a player said to be a potential piece in the deal. De La Rosa was placed on waivers by the Dodgers, but pulled back after he was claimed by a team. He now could end up as a "player to be named later" in a trade with the Red Sox for Gonzalez.

The Dodgers withdrew from negotiations with the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Ryan Dempster shortly before the 1 p.m. non-waiver trade deadline, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks. Dempster instead was sent to the Texas Rangers. Even without landing Dempster, the Dodgers were arguably the team that improved itself the most over the last week. A week ago Tuesday, they landed three-time All-Star Hanley Ramirez and left-handed reliever Randy Choate.

Ted Lilly, super salesman? Maybe you heard the news Monday that Chicago Cubs starter Ryan Dempster had been traded to Atlanta , except of course, he wasn't. Dempster has veto power over a trade and apparently the Cubs thought they had his approval, only as it turned out, they did not. At least not yet. It seems Dempster wants to be a Dodger and be reunited with his former Cubs teammate Lilly, and since there is still a week to go before the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline, he is in no hurry to give his blessing to the Braves while the Dodgers are still interested.

SAN FRANCISCO - Chad Billingsley almost reached the promised land. As it was, Billingsley got to a place no other Dodger reached in the team's three consecutive shutout defeats to the San Francisco Giants: third base. That happened in the third inning in the Dodgers' 3-0 loss Wednesday, when the pitcher doubled against Tim Lincecum and reached third base on a wild pitch. Lincecum threw another pitch to the backstop and Billingsley bolted for home. Catcher Hector Sanchez retrieved the ball and tossed it to Lincecum, whom Billingsley slid into.

Anticipating that Andre Ethier would be selected for the All-Star game Tuesday in Arizona, many of his friends and family members in his hometown of Phoenix purchased tickets ahead of time. "Most people were disappointed when they found out I wasn't in and texted me saying, 'Can you help me sell the tickets?'" Ethier said. If they sold them, Ethier might have to buy them new ones, as he was selected by San Francisco Giants Manager Bruce Bochy on Friday to replace the sidelined Shane Victorino on the National League roster.

Javy Guerra knows he's onto something. For the latest of his major league-leading four saves, the Dodgers' second-year closer entered the game Wednesday night with Mariachi Vargas' "La Negra" playing on the Dodger Stadium public-address system. Hearing the Mexican mariachi song, what remained of the modestly sized crowd went crazy. "I'm sure they had a good time with it," Guerra said of the fans, many of them presumably Latino. The bilingual Guerra grew up in suburban Dallas.

With new owners in place, the Dodgers say they are no longer under the economic hardships that prevented them from landing frontline pitcher CC Sabathia at the 2008 nonwaiver trade deadline. But the capacity to add to the team's payroll alone won't make deals happen. General Manager Ned Colletti says he has been on the phone with other GMs since the beginning of May, but has found the trade market slow to develop – even more than in past seasons. He attributes that to the change in the playoff format, which has added an extra wild-card team in each league.

PHOENIX — As hockey fever grips Los Angeles, Dodgers President Stan Kasten said he plans to explore whether the Kings could play in an NHL Winter Classic game at Dodger Stadium. "Facility-wise, we could certainly handle it," Kasten said. The NHL has yet to award its New Year's Day showcase to a warm-weather city. The Dodgers could offer baseball's largest stadium and the iconic backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains. Kasten, former president of the NHL Atlanta Thrashers, said technology would allow ice to remain playable for an outdoor hockey game at Dodger Stadium but said he was unsure if the league would be interested.