ALFONZO OUT WHILE AXELROD AND LOMAN EXCEL IN SPRING OPENERS; COLABELLO MAKES HIS FIRST APPEARANCE

Onetime St. Paul (MN) Saints catcher Eliezer Alfonzo has become the first of the 55 Independent Baseball players victimized in a major league spring training camp.  Actually, the 34-year-old did not even get to the Los Angeles Dodgers' camp where he was to be a non-roster invitee in his attempt to get back to the majors after serving a 50-game suspension and playing in Mexico last season.

 

Alfonzo missed the start of spring training for what the team said was "a family issue", then he contracted Dengue fever, described as an acute infectious disease transmitted by mosquitoes.  The Venezuelan native, who hit .300 in 68 games for the Saints in 2003 before they moved from the Northern League to the American Association, has been reassigned to the minor league camp.  He has a career major league average of .240 with 17 home runs in 193 games.

 

KEEPING UP WITH AXELROD AND LOMAN

 

Dylan Axelrod (Windy City, Frontier League) had to help his chances of a more prominent role with the Chicago White Sox when he started and turned in three shutout innings of one-hit baseball in a 9-0 blanking of the Dodgers Saturday.  Axelrod struck out four.

 

Former Golden Leaguer (St. George, UT) Seth Loman pinch ran in the third inning of that game, remained at first base and finished the scoring with a two-run ninth inning homer.  The White Sox's non-roster invitee was 1-for-3.

 

Lefty Victor Garate, who made one appearance for York, PA (Atlantic League) last season and signed with the Dodgers during the offseason, was brought over from the minor league camp as an extra, but he did not get into the game.

 

COLABELLO HAS A QUIET DEBUT

 

Longtime Can-Am League star Chris Colabello (Worcester, MA, and Nashua, NH) got a starting assignment in the Minnesota Twins' spring training debut Saturday, playing first base and batting sixth.  He went 0-for-3 with one strikeout before coming out of the 5-3 loss to Baltimore.

 

Colabello, who drove in 98 runs last year for Double-A New Britain, CT in his first affiliated season, will leave the Twins temporarily in a few days to play for Italy in the World Baseball Classic. 

 

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