Tim Redding kept alive his long shot bid to make the Dodgers’ opening-day roster, as he threw three shutout innings in an 11-5 defeat to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday at Camelback Ranch.

With Ted Lilly scratched from his scheduled start due to flu-like symptoms, Redding became the first Dodger pitcher to make two starts this exhibition season. Holding the Royals to four hits and a walk, Redding extended his scoreless streak this spring to five innings.

In camp with Colorado last season, Redding went from playing in the Rockies’ minor-league system to the Yankees’. He was released by the Yankees in August and landed a job in South Korea.

Former No. 1 pick Scott Elbert’s control problems continued, as the left-hander walked four batters and recorded only one out. Of the 10 batters he has faced this spring, he has walked six.

-- Dylan Hernandez, reporting from Phoenix

Photo: Tim Redding delivers a pitch against the Giants last week. Credit: Rick Scuteri / Reuters

And now for this incredible piece of insight, carefully culled from covering baseball for more years than Charlie Sheen has been just so completely awesome:

You can't score unless you get on base.

OK, so possibly you knew that. Likewise, perhaps you heard that that ability is not looking like a particular strength of this year's Dodgers.

Unless you're driving the ball over the fence, you don't score a run until you have someone who actually manages to get their little footsies on base.

The use of the on-base percentage stat has rightfully grown in popularity through the years, and it doesn't paint the prettiest picture for the Dodgers as an offensive force in 2011.

Here's a look at the projected lineup for this season and each player's on-base numbers:

Player                   2010    Career
Rafael Furcal         .366        .351
Casey Blake           .320        .336
Andre Ethier         .364        .363
Matt Kemp            .310        .336
James Loney         .329        .348
Juan Uribe            .310        .300
Jay Gibbons          .313        .314
Marcus Thames   .350        .311
Rod Barajas           .284        .284

If you accept .330 as a mid-range on-base percentage, only three starters were above average last season. It gets slightly better with the career marks, but it is clear that scoring could loom as a season-long challenge.

General Manager Ned Colletti may not come across as your most ardent new-age stat guy, but he recognizes on-base percentage has merit, if to a point.

"I think it has value to it," Colletti said. "You have to be able to understand moving runners, even if it's taking a pitch so the other guy can get a jump, hitting behind a runner -- sacrificing yourself for the team."

Because the Dodgers also don't figure to be a home-run power and don't have a great deal of speed, improving their recent on-base numbers figures to be key.

The Dodgers are counting on improved seasons from several players from a year ago, but even if that happens, the historic numbers of the bottom half of the lineup are impossible to refute.

Maybe they could borrow some Sheen Adonis DNA.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Out for the last few days with the flu, Jay Gibbons will make his spring debut when the Dodgers face the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday at Camelback Ranch.

But the flu has forced another Dodger, Ted Lilly, to be scratched from what was supposed to be his first start of the spring. Manager Don Mattingly said Lilly might be out for a few more days.

Tim Redding, who pitched in South Korea last year, will start in Lilly’s place.

Dodgers’ lineup:

Carroll 3B
Navarro C
Ethier RF
Kemp CF
Kapler LF
Loney 1B
Gibbons DH
DeJesus 2B
Castro SS

Redding RHP

-- Dylan Hernandez in Phoenix

Frank McCourt has committed "flagrant breaches" of his duty to protect the financial interests of his ex-wife Jamie, in part by negotiating a "secret deal" with Fox that "would have endangered" the value of the Dodgers' broadcast contracts, attorneys for Jamie McCourt charged in a court filing on Tuesday.

Her attorneys asked that Frank be ordered to provide to Jamie extensive financial information regarding the Dodgers' business operations, including documents related to negotiations with television outlets and efforts to obtain additional financing for the cash-strapped franchise.

The court set a hearing for April 11.

In December, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon threw out an agreement that would have granted Frank sole ownership of the Dodgers. Jamie claims that decision makes her half-owner of the team under California community property law and, as such, entitles her to full financial disclosure about the couple's assets pending resolution of the divorce proceedings.

"Frank has consistently and wholly failed to comply," her lawyers wrote.

Frank argues the court invalidated the agreement but deferred the determination of who owns the Dodgers. His representatives could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday, but they have said Frank has complied with the law and would do nothing to diminish the value of the Dodgers.

"He is well aware of his responsibilities to the team, to the city and to his former wife," his spokesman Steve Sugerman said last week. "He takes these responsibilities seriously and is living up to them."

Sugerman's comment originally appeared in a Los Angeles Times report about Commissioner Bud Selig's decision to reject a proposal in which Fox would have lent Frank about $200 million, using the Dodgers' television rights as collateral.

Jamie and her advisors were "shocked" to read that report, according to the filing. Her lawyers called it "outrageous" that Frank had not disclosed the Fox discussions to Jamie and "equally outrageous" that she needed Selig to "protect the franchise's best interests given that California law imposes that very duty and obligation upon Frank, since he runs the Dodgers."

In the filing, her attorneys asked that the court order Frank to turn over all documents related to the Dodgers' broadcast rights negotiations, cash advances, loan applications, financing arrangements, debt payments and schedules, and audited financial results.

Her attorneys are also asking for documents related to payments from Major League Baseball. The financially troubled New York Mets last year received a $25-million loan from MLB, the New York Times and New York Daily News reported last week.

The filing includes a Feb. 16 letter from Sorrell Trope, an attorney for Frank, to Mike Kump, an attorney for Jamie. In the letter, Trope wrote that Frank is "fully committed to adhering to his … legal obligations."

Trope also wrote that Jamie's claims stem from the "flawed premises" that the Dodgers are community property and that she is half-owner.

In addition, Trope blasted Kump for sending copies of correspondence to MLB Executive Vice President Rob Manfred — Selig's point man on the Dodgers' affairs — and to the MLB's general counsel, Tom Ostertag.

"It is counterproductive and, frankly, inappropriate," Trope wrote. "Involving them appears calculated to harm the Dodgers and create a further spectacle that ultimately does not benefit any party to this action."

-- Bill Shaikin

Chad Billingsley pitched three scoreless innings in his spring debut on Tuesday during a 2-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Goodyear Ballpark.

“I was able to get a good tempo, a good rhythm,” Billingsley said.

The Dodgers’ projected No. 2 starter, Billingsley held the Indians to three hits and struck out three.

He said he is continuing to work on developing his changeup, which he started using more effectively in the second half of last season.

Outfielder Jerry Sands, the Dodgers’ 2010 minor league player of the year, hit his first home run of the spring in the seventh inning.

-- Dylan Hernandez in Goodyear, Ariz.

Garret Anderson officially retired Tuesday.

That might have been one year too late for most Dodgers fans, but the outfielder put together an impressive career.

Last season, Anderson’s only one with the Dodgers, he quickly seemed past his prime. To everyone, maybe, but Joe Torre and Anderson.

In 155 at-bats until released his release Aug. 10, he hit just .181 with a .271 slugging percentage. His best years were clearly behind him, though they were very good years (.293/.461 for his career).

Also on the Web:

--St. Petersburg Times’ Marc Topkin says Manny Ramirez is impressing the Rays with -- are you ready? -- his hustle.

--The Times’ Dylan Hernandez says catcher Rod Barajas grew up in Norwalk dreaming of being a Dodger.

--Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski has a lengthy piece examining Duke Snider, questioning those who doubted his greatness.

--ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tries -- with great effort -- to understand where Matt Kemp is headed.

--In the company of Frank McCourt: The New York Post writes that the Mets are desperately seeking a new loan. JPMorgan lent the Mets $430 million last year and MLB lent the team $25 million at the end of last year.

--True Blue L.A.’s Eric Stephen takes a look at reliever Ron Mahay, comparing him to Kenley Jansen in that he also made a late switch from position player to pitcher.

--Sports Illlustrated’s Jon Heyman writes that Don Mattingly is the right man at the right time to lead the Dodgers.

--Fox Sports’ Tracy Ringolsby writes that it isn’t only the Giants’ young pitchers who are coming of age, but now their hitters, too.

--MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick writes that Jamey Carroll is well past getting down about not starting.

--Steve Dilbeck

Chad Billingsley will make his exhibition debut Tuesday as the Dodgers field a lineup against the Cleveland Indians that is close to what it’s expected to be on opening day.

Casey Blake is batting second, which is where Manager Don Mattingly said he could hit this season. On Blake's days off, Jamey Carroll, Tony Gwynn Jr. and Juan Uribe could hit there.

But Mattingly said he wanted Uribe to hit with men on base, which is why he will probably hit fifth or sixth. Mattingly said Uribe would probably hit fifth in games that the Dodgers face a left-hander and sixth when they face a right-hander. Against right-handers Mattingly said he planned to bat James Loney fifth.

Here’s the Dodgers’ lineup today:

Furcal SS
Blake 3B
Ethier RF
Kemp CF
Loney 1B
Uribe 2B
Thames DH
Barajas C
Gwynn LF
Billingsley RHP

-- Dylan Hernandez in Goodyear, Ariz.

The Dodgers unexpectedly have an age-old problem.

They are an old team. Graybeards with gloves. Guys closer to swinging a walker than a bat. They don’t need human growth hormone, they need Celebrex, and an updated retirement program.

This goes against everything we’ve been told about the Dodgers for the past several years, which is part of the problem. Years go by, and the young aren’t so young anymore. Or at least so I’m told.

Of the 23 Dodgers you could reasonably expect to make their final roster, only two are younger than 26.

That’s it, two -- Clayton Kershaw (23 on March 19) and Kenley Jansen (23).

The average age of those 23 Dodgers is over 30.

That young core of offensive players is now down to three -- Matt Kemp (26), James Loney (26) and Andre Ethier (29 on April 10).

Otherwise the Dodgers' daily starting lineup is expected to have a 35-year-old catcher (Rod Barajas), a 31-year-old second baseman (Juan Uribe), a 37-year-old third baseman (Casey Blake), a 33-year-old shortstop (Rafael Furcal), and a 33-year-old (Marcus Thames) and soon-to-be-34-year-old (Jay Gibbons, happy birthday on Tuesday) splitting time in left.

Mr. Utility is 37-year-old Jamey Carroll. The frisky backup catcher is a 27-year-old kid, Dioner Navarro.

The rotation has 26-year-old Chad Billingsley and Kershaw, but also 31-year-old Jon Garland, 35-year-old Ted Lilly and 36-year-old Hiroki Kuroda.

The bullpen has 26-year-old Jonathan Broxton and Jansen, but also 28-year-old (happy birthday today) Blake Hawksworth, possibly 28-year-old Ramon Troncoso, 29-year-old Hong-Chih Kuo, 32-year-old Matt Guerrier, and eventually the allegedly 33-year-old Vincente Padilla.

And then still fighting to earn final spots are 34-year-old Aaron Miles, 35-year-old Gabe Kapler, 35-year-old (on Friday) Mike MacDougal, 38-year-old Juan Castro and 39-year-old Ron Mahay.

Geritol all around!

So much for those young Dodgers. Ah, youth, where does it fly?

These guys don’t relate to Don Mattingly, they relate to Tom Lasorda. Or John Glenn. These Dodgers are older than a Charley Steiner one-liner.

The problem with all this, of course, is that older players are more likely to break down. They end up looking for love more often in the whirlpool than the batter’s box.

And for the most part, the guys backing up the old starters are even older reserves. Old teams can still win, but they can also tag-team it to the disabled list.

Forget that youthful Dodgers routine. Old news.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Top photo: Juan Uribe. Credit: Jake Roth / US Presswire

Middle photo: Teddy Lilly. Credit: Kyle Terada / US Presswire

Bottom photo: Casey Blake. Credit: Jake Roth / US Presswire

Clayton Kershaw will throw 45 to 50 pitches in his first start of the spring, which will be against the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch on Monday.

All of the projected starting-position players will be taking the day off after playing on Sunday.

No other real news out of Phoenix, except for the fact that Jay Gibbons is out for another day with the flu. Manager Don Mattingly said Gibbons is hoping to work out on Tuesday and play in a game the following day as a designated hitter.

Today’s lineup:

Gwynn RF
Miles 4
Navarro 2
Paul DH
Robinson CF
Kapler LF
Mitchell 1B
Castro 3B
Sellers SS
Kershaw LHP

-- Dylan Hernandez in Phoenix

T.J. Simers, The Times’ resident optimist, takes a look at the new Dodgers and comes away overflowing with optimism.

At least in his inimitable way.

Wrote Simers on the coming season: "Some fans might be so excited they are even thinking about buying tickets or loaning Frank McCourt money."

Can’t you just smell the fresh-cut grass?

Also on the Web:

-- There are numerous heartfelt tributes to Duke Snider, including at The Times, the New York Times, Newsday, the New York Daily News, MLB.com and ESPN.com.

-- The Canadian Press has the story of the U.S. Ambassador’s plans to place a plaque at the Montreal apartment of Jackie and Rachel Robinson in their honor as part of Black History Month.

-- Dodgers.com’s Ken Gurnick talks to left-hander Scott Elbert and the pressures that apparently led to his leaving the organization last season, for personal reasons that were never explained.

-- The New York Times’ Karen Crouse has a feature on Clayton Kershaw’s life-changing trip to Africa in the off-season with his wife, Ellen.

-- CBS Sports’ Ray Ratto thinks Charlie Sheen would be the ideal new Dodgers owner, because in the troubled actor they would have "someone who would at least make the Dodgers more stable than they already are, because the only thing less stable than the Dodgers ownership in its current state is a solar flare."

-- ESPN L.A.’s Tony Jackson has the details on the Dodgers’ plans for a benefit game March 25 against the Arizona Diamondbacks to benefit the Christina Taylor Green Memorial Fund.

-- Yahoo Sports’ Steve Henson thinks Joe Torre’s cool will work well as commissioner Bud Selig’s new vice president.

-- Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi talks to outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. about his Hall of Fame father’s battle with cancer, getting cut by the Padres and joining the Dodgers.

-- Baseball Savvy’s Howard Cole gets an insightful interview with Dodgers’ super fan Roberto Baly of Vin Scully is My Homeboy.

-- TrueBlueLA’s Eric Stephen looks at which Dodgers pitchers excelled at getting the called strikeout last season.

Stephen also picks up on Dodgers.com dropping the obnoxious "This Is My Town" slogan and opting for the classic Vin Scully phrase, "It’s Time for Dodger Baseball." That's called progress.

-- Steve Dilbeck

We never got to see the best of him. Not really, not on the field, anyway. Not in Los Angeles.

Duke Snider was a legendary player before the Dodgers came to L.A. prior to the 1958 season. Put up numbers that now seem almost unfathomable.

In the five years with the Brooklyn Dodgers before they moved west, Snider averaged 41 home runs, 117 RBI and 116 runs per season.

The great debate was which New York team had the greatest center fielder -- the Giants with Willie Mays, the Yankees with Mickey Mantle or the Dodgers with Snider.

He was graceful on the field, clutch at the plate and, in my experience, a gentleman off the field. The last surviving regular member of the Boys of Summer, he died Sunday in a convalescent hospital in Escondido at age 84 after battling diabetes.

"He was an extremely gifted talent, and his defensive abilities were often overlooked because of playing in a small ballpark, Ebbets Field," veteran Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully said in a statement.

"When he had a chance to run and move defensively, he had the grace and the abilities of DiMaggio and Mays, and of course, he was a World Series hero that will forever be remembered in the borough of Brooklyn. Although it’s ironic to say it, we have lost a giant."

Snider was "The Duke of Flatbush," one of baseball’s all-time great nicknames, although he graduated from Compton High School.

In Brooklyn, he helped lead the Dodgers to six pennants and finally helped push them past the Yankees to their historic first World Series title in 1955. Though he was never voted MVP -- he hit .309 with 42 homers, 136 RBI and 126 runs in 1955 but finished second to teammate Roy Campanella -- he went on to the Hall of Fame.

In Los Angeles, the cavernous Coliseum, a bum knee and perhaps age affected his production. His best season here was in 1959, when he hit .308 and had 23 home runs and 88 RBI in 370 at-bats on the Dodgers’ first World Series championship in L.A.

As with the rest of us, there were down moments in his career -- run-ins with fans and management, getting caught up in a memorabilia scandal in 1995.

But the silver-haired Snider later seemed to take to his elder-statesman position, though never shy about offering an honest opinion.

Those were great Dodgers teams he was part of -- Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, Jim Gilliam, Carl Furillo and Campanella. Teams that so captured the imagination of Brooklyn that their move to Los Angeles still tears at the borough today.

At their center was the Silver Fox, batting third in the order, always rising to the moment in the World Series.

His legend only swelled in Terry Cashman’s iconic baseball song, "Talkin’ Baseball -- Willie, Mickey and the Duke," and in Roger Kahn’s classic sports book, "The Boys of Summer."

Though he would finish his career with seasons with the Mets and Giants, he seemed an eternal Dodger. A part of their classic past, even if it came before Los Angeles.

"Duke was not only a great player but he was a great person too," said Tommy Lasorda, his former teammate, in a statement. "He loved his family and loved the Dodgers. He was the true Dodger and represented the Dodgers to the highest degree of class, dignity and character. He was my teammate and friend, and I will really miss him."

-- Steve Dilbeck

Photos: (Top) Duke Snider rounds the bases after hitting one of four home runs for Brooklyn in the 1956 World Series. (Bottom) Duke Snider with Los Angeles on the road, circa 1962. Credits: Getty Images and Associated Press

For the record: An earlier photo caption accompanying a photo with this post said Duke Snider was celebrating the 1954 World Series championship with teammate Larry Sherry. The two were actually celebrating the 1959 World Series championship.

Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said Sunday that early in the spring he planned to play Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and James Loney for two consecutive days, then rest them for a day.

All three played Saturday and were in the lineup for their spring home opener against the Angels at Camelback Ranch on Sunday.

Marcus Thames will be on the same schedule, Mattingly said.

Veteran infielders Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake and Juan Uribe, who didn’t play on Saturday, will make their spring debut Sunday as part of Mattingly’s plan to play them every other day.

Catchers Rod Barajas and Dioner Navarro will alternate starts behind the plate.

Sunday’s lineup:

Rafael Furcal SS
Casey Blake 3B
Andre Ethier RF
Matt Kemp CF
Juan Uribe 2B
James Loney 1B
Marcus Thames LF
Hector Gimenez DH
Rod Barajas C

-- Dylan Hernandez in Phoenix