Spring Day Games Are Old News on KFWB

VERO BEACH, Fla. —  The Angels present live radio broadcasts of all spring training games. The Dodgers do not, and they can’t do a thing about it.

The Dodgers’ contract with KFWB (980) does not obligate the station to air any spring games. The station won’t interrupt its news format to carry the majority of spring games -- weekday contests starting at 10 a.m. in Los Angeles -- but it has agreed to air those broadcasts on a delayed basis at 7 p.m.

The approach is an anachronism. In the nine hours between game time and broadcast time, fans can learn the highlights of the game and breaking developments in camp on the Internet, on television or on radio -- even on KFWB.

The Angels are one of five teams with regular spring broadcasts, joining the San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Angels air on KSPN (710), with an all-sports format that better accommodates weekday games.

“We do our best to take care of the news fans and the baseball fans,” said Tom Boman, executive producer of the KFWB broadcasts.

Night and weekend games are broadcast live. Fans can hear the weekday broadcasts live on mlb.com, for a $14.95 subscription fee.

“If you’re an office worker and you have a computer at your desk, you have access to every single game,” Boman said.

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On his first day back in right field, Shawn Green stopped short of declaring himself a qualified major league first baseman. On Monday, the Dodgers terminated what Green called “a successful experiment” of him working out at first base so the Dodgers could consider acquiring an outfielder to fortify their lineup. If first base is in his future, he would consider himself a less jittery novice.

“It would still be a work in progress, but it wouldn’t be as intimidating,” he said.

The Dodgers have yet to add that long-awaited big bat. Green hopes the Dodgers can play well enough to force management’s hand in obtaining one during the season.

“I don’t know the philosophy of the new regime,” he said, “but I think they’ll give us a legitimate chance to get to the playoffs. It’s our job to be in a good position.”

However, Green was repeatedly noncommittal when asked whether he would agree to move to first base during the season should the Dodgers add an outfielder then.

“It’s hard for me to speculate,” he said. “I’ll wait and see.”

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The Dodgers are growing concerned about Guillermo Mota, who has not pitched since March 8 because of a sore triceps muscle and was scratched from his scheduled bullpen workout Tuesday. Mota, the primary setup man for closer Eric Gagne, has pitched two innings this spring. ... Tuesday’s exhibition game was rained out in the fourth inning, but not before Kazuhisa Ishii pitched two hitless innings, striking out four. In his first two spring outings, Ishii had faced 32 batters, striking out one and allowing 22 to reach base.