After the Taylor Swift mini-concert and the military tribute and fly-by and the ceremonial first pitch by Steve Sax (heads-up on that), the focus of Monday's home opener at Dodger Stadium will be on starting pitcher Jason Schmidt.

He was the big offseason acquisition with a $47 million price tag, and the assumption was that he'd be burning out radar guns from the first Spring Training bullpen session, which was never going to happen. At 34, Schmidt doesn't throw as hard as he did at 24 and he doesn't need to, not in March or even April. His Spring Training goal was to prepare for a seven-month campaign, not lead the Grapefruit League in strikeouts.

Scouts and reporters might be wondering what's wrong, but the Dodgers don't.

"If he's not worried," said pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, 'I'm not worried."

Honeycutt said Schmidt showed steady improvement over his last three spring starts and took it into his debut Tuesday in Milwaukee, when he allowed one run over five innings, not going as deep into the game as the club wants but otherwise effective enough.

He occasionally hit 90 mph and was generally around 88, but Honeycutt pointed out that Schmidt was more effective hitting the corners, which is a better formula for success than throwing hard.

"The guy has a track record. He knows the schedule. He didn't have to throw hard in March," said Honeycutt. "He didn't throw a breaking ball the first three weeks of camp. He doesn't throw off a mound in the winter. When you coach a veteran, there's a trust factor. When a guy's fighting for a job, you'll see a different pitcher than a guy who is preparing for the season. As long as they say they're fine. I think we're going to gradually see sharper pitches and better velocity. The guy knows how to pitch with what he has."

Schmidt has dominated the Rockies, so he has that going for him Monday. He will also have a hot lineup behind him. Manager Grady Little said he will stick with what worked Sunday, meaning Wilson Valdez at shortstop, Ramon Martinez at third base and Matt Kemp in right field, with Wilson Betemit and Andre Ethier on the bench.

Pitching matchup
LAD: RHP Jason Schmidt (1-0, 1.80 ERA)
Schmidt is 13-5 with a 3.69 ERA lifetime against Colorado and was 1-1 with a 3.42 ERA against the Rockies last year.

COL: LHP Jeff Francis (0-0, 3.00 ERA)
Francis has quality starts in four of his five career starts against the Dodgers and was 0-0 with a 1.23 ERA last year against them.

Player to watch
Juan Pierre is 6-for-8 against Francis.

On the Internet
 MLB.TV
 Gameday Audio
•  Gameday
•  Official game notes

On television
• PRIME

On radio
• KFWB 980 AM; KWKW 1330 AM (Español)

Up next
• Tuesday: Rockies (Rodrigo Lopez, 1-0, 1.29) at Dodgers (Brett Tomko, 8-7, 4.73 in 2006), 7:10 p.m. PT
• Wednesday: Rockies (Jason Hirsh, 1-0, 1.35) at Dodgers (Brad Penny, 1-0, 1.29), 7:10 p.m. PT
• Friday: Padres (David Wells, 0-0, 2.70) at Dodgers (Derek Lowe, 1-1, 5.83), 7:40 p.m. PT