Reporting from Tucson — The Dodgers sent a part of their team to the Phoenix suburb of Surprise on Friday to face the Kansas City Royals. Another group traveled more than two hours from the team's spring-training complex to Tucson, where the Chicago White Sox were waiting for them.
Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier were in the second group. So were fellow starters Dee Gordon, Juan Rivera, Mark Ellis and A.J. Ellis. Veteran reserves Tony Gwynn Jr. and Jerry Hairston Jr. also made the 130-mile trip.
They traveled because the game in Tucson was to raise money for the Christina-Taylor Green Foundation, which is named after the late daughter of Dodgers scout John Green. Christina-Taylor Green was 9 when she was killed in the 2011 shooting that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
"There's still pain every day in losing our daughter," John Green said. "That kind of support gets you through the tough times."
Kemp wanted to participate because he didn't play in the game in Tucson last spring to raise money for the victims of the shooting.
"I kind of felt that I needed to come this year," Kemp said.
Andre Ethier grew up in Phoenix and continues to make his off-season home in Arizona. Last season, he wore a rubber bracelet inscribed with Christina-Taylor Green's name. He said he didn't remove it all season, something the victim's mother told him she noticed when they met at the All-Star game last year.
"I was very touched and impressed by Andre Ethier," Roxanna Green said.
Kemp and Ethier approached Mattingly to tell him they wanted to play in the game, only to be told a lottery system would be used to select the traveling team. They were both chosen.
"They're really who people want to see," Mattingly said. "It's good to see your top guys want to be involved."
And they both produced. Kemp was three for four with a home run and four runs batted in in the 17-4 victory over the White Sox. Ethier was one for three with a walk and an RBI.
Others also expressed an interest in taking part, especially after Mattingly talked to the team about the importance of the game.
The first player to volunteer to play was catcher A.J. Ellis.
"Someone once told me a good leader wouldn't ask you to do anything he wouldn't do himself, and Donnie's here," A.J. Ellis said. "If Donnie asks us to do anything, I'd be surprised if there would be anybody on this team who wouldn't do it."
Mattingly said he wanted to participate not only to support John Green, but also his father, longtime baseball executive Dallas Green. Mattingly was managed by Dallas Green on the 1989 New York Yankees.
Dallas Green was an even more significant figure in the life of General Manager Ned Colletti.
Colletti was unemployed in early 1982 after the Philadelphia newspaper at which he had covered hockey folded. Back in his hometown of Chicago, his father was dying of lung cancer.
Desperate for work, Colletti took a job as a public relations assistant with the Chicago Cubs. The team's general manager was Dallas Green.
"He was my first boss," Colletti said. "He brought me back to Chicago. I began my baseball career with him. It gave me a chance to spend time with my dad. You never forget things like that."
So when John Green called Colletti asking if the Dodgers could play a game to raise money for his daughter's foundation, Colletti told him to find an opponent. The Dodgers would be there.
At a small news conference before the game, John Green patted Colletti on the back.
"We appreciate you sticking by us through some tough times," John Green said.
dylan.hernandez@latimes.com
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