Padilla to Start Opening Day
Vicente Padilla, released last summer by Texas, will be named the Dodgers Opening Day starter Thursday by manager Joe Torre, baseball sources told MLB.com. The club could not confirm Padilla’s selection.
Padilla will start April 5 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh and be followed in the rotation by Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda and an as-yet-unnamed fifth starter. Factoring in off days, Kershaw is lined up to start the home opener at Dodger Stadium April 13 against Arizona. — Ken Gurnick
Kenny G Around the Horn 
Figures. Padilla is used to failure, so a opening day flop would do no harm to his psyche and he should be able to dominate the weakest lineup in MLB if he’s got any kind of command on opening day. Kuroda would have been the other choice that made sense as the best veteran pitcher on the team, but they probably want to save a competent veteran to open things up on a positive note when they start playing the competent teams. Good chance the Dodgers start the season 4-0 with the way things are set. Let’s just hope that Padilla, Kuroda, and Billingsley can each eat up 220innings this year to preserve the bullpen for the playoffs this time.