Dodgers get spring games started as Scott Van Slyke crushes homer

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.

The score was tied 1-1 in the sixth when the Dodgers went to four sons of former major leaguers to score five times.

Tony Gwynn Jr. led off with a single off right-hander Nestor Molina, stole second and scored on a Justin Sellers double. Ivan De Jesus Jr., somewhat forgotten in the Dodgers’ youth movement, tripled in Sellers.

Which brought up Van Slyke, who kinda liked the first pitch he saw. He crushed it to left, over the fence, beyond the bullpen and onto the terrace. Van Slyke hit 20 home runs last season at double-A Chattanooga.

It was real offense! The Dodgers kept it going when Alex Castellanos singled and took third on a Josh Fields double. Castellanos, the outfielder the Dodgers acquired from St. Louis in the trade for Rafael Furcal, scored when Russell Mitchell bounced into a fielder’s choice.

On the mound, seven pitchers held the White Sox to six hits. Chad Billingsley started and threw two scoreless innings, allowing one single.

Nathan Eovaldi followed, and apparently Manager Don Mattingly thinks the right-hander is a superstar in the making. , Speaking to reporters in Phoenix before the game, Mattingly compared Eovaldi to no less than Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw:

“Joe [Torre] threw Kershaw into the Sandy Koufax mix. I’m going to throw Nate with Kersh. I think Nate’s that kind of guy. He works hard, he’s got great stuff. He picks things up and will continue to get better. We look at Nate as long term, and we think this guy is going to be a quality starter for a long time.”

The jinxed Eovaldi, scheduled to start the season in the minors, went 1 2/3 innings Monday, allowing a run on two hits and a pair of walks.

Hey, it was a spring opener and there was some baseball to discuss that didn’t involve who would head to triple A or further down to double A. Spring felt officially underway.

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