Dirt Dog Doug, Others Earn MLB Gigs

-- The Dodgers, as expected, put Doug Mientkiewicz on the roster yesterday. The versatile bench player had a .277/2/30 line for Pittsburgh last year, and is a .271 career hitter.

In a move that's no doubt a surprise to the Pirate suits, they also added RH reliever Ron Belisario to the roster. The Venezuelan, a former Marlin signee, pitched at Lynchburg and Altoona in 2007-08 for the Bucs after TJ surgery in 2005. He was 4-4 with a 4.74 ERA for the Curve last season, and signed on with LA as a non-roster minor league free agent.

-- CF Chris Duffy made it as a Brewer out of camp, beating out Tony Gwynn Jr. for the last roster spot. Duffy, who was injured much of last season and played sparingly at Indy, has a .269 lifetime average in three seasons with Pittsburgh.

-- RHP Kris Benson, the #1 overall pick by Pittsburgh in 1996, has joined the Ranger rotation. He hasn't pitched in a regular-season game since 2006 after undergoing surgery for a torn rotator cuff. In seven seasons prior to the knife, he was 68-73 with a 4.82 ERA.

-- Oldies but goodies Kip Wells and Josh Fogg may have finally reached the end of the line. Wells was assigned to the minors by Washington and Fogg was cut by Colorado.