Tabs Kept on Seo From a Distance

If the Dodgers had their druthers, of course, Jae Seo wouldn’t be in Anaheim this week. Instead of pitching for Korea in the World Baseball Classic, the right-hander would be with them in Florida.

“We’d kind of like to lay eyes on a guy we’re kind of thinking about as being one of our starters,” Manager Grady Little said Monday before the Dodgers’ 7-5 Grapefruit League victory over the Boston Red Sox. “But I guess he’s getting his work in.”

Projected to be the Dodgers’ fifth starter after the January trade that brought him from the New York Mets, Seo is 2-0 in the WBC and has given up four hits and one run in nine innings. He gave up two hits, made 61 pitches and worked 5 1/3 strong innings Sunday night in the Koreans’ 2-1 victory over Mexico.

Still, said an anxious Little, “we’ll sure be breathing easier when we find out he was fine today after pitching yesterday.”

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Cesar Izturis and the Dodgers believe that the club’s starting shortstop the last four years, recovering from surgery on his right elbow, won’t be sidelined until the All-Star break, as had been projected.

But Izturis won’t be rushed, nor is there a need to rush him after the Dodgers’ free-agent signing of shortstop Rafael Furcal in December.

“With that grafting that took place on his elbow,” Little said, referring to Izturis, “if he comes back too quick it’s got a chance to put him right back to square one and we’re not going to take any chances there.

“We think he’s coming along very well, but a timetable has not been set yet.”

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Willy Aybar’s two-run, 10th-inning home run was the difference against the Red Sox.... Former Red Sox players Derek Lowe, Nomar Garciaparra and Bill Mueller did not make the three-hour, cross-state trip from Vero Beach with the Dodgers, nor did any other projected Dodger regular other than catcher Dioner Navarro.... While his teammates take the day off today, Lowe is scheduled to make about 55 to 60 pitches in a minor-league intrasquad game at Dodgertown.... Red Sox first baseman J.T. Snow is wearing No. 84 this season in honor of his father, former Los Angeles Ram wide receiver and broadcaster Jack Snow, who died in January.