Dodgers' Ramirez Day To Day With Shoulder Injury, Club Recalls Dee Gordon
ST. LOUIS (CBSLA.com/AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he thinks shortstop Hanley Ramirez will be out at least a few days with a right shoulder injury.
Mattingly said the NL West-leading Dodgers would be fine if Ramirez had to go on the 15-day disabled list.
"Even if this was a 15-day thing, I'd feel OK with it," Mattingly said Monday. "As long as this isn't something that he doesn't play again this year, or he's out a month.
"You can always kind of survive short periods of time without one of your guys."
Ramirez hurt his shoulder after tumbling into the stands catching a fly ball in the seventh inning of the Dodgers' 1-0 victory on Sunday.
"It's like he hit that wall and it propelled him in," the manager said. "The left hand looked like it went in clean and the right hand you could tell took the force, and that's the shoulder it got."
The Dodgers did get rookie Yasiel Puig back in the lineup against the St. Louis Cardinals after missing a day with a right thumb injury.
Nick Punto started at shortstop and batted eighth in place of Ramirez, who was hitting .361 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs.
Punto was batting .244 with a homer and 14 RBIs and Mattingly was confident Punto could play 5-6 days in a row if needed.
The Dodgers optioned pitcher Stephen Fife to Triple-A Albuquerque and recalled shortstop Dee Gordon.
(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
