Roger Arrieta
Just two days ago, we told you that while the Dodgers had taken care of business in Australia, they returned home to Los Angeles to a lot of bad news. Well, on Saturday, they received even more news–but not all of it was bad.
First, the good news:
So, the immediate good news is that Hyun-Jin Ryu will be able to start Sunday evening’s road opener against the San Diego Padres. There was some concern about him needing at least a week or two to recover from a split nail on the big toe of his right foot (that occurred in his start in Australia), but he visited a podiatrist upon returning to Los Angeles, and had the nail removed. He then threw 30 pitches in a bullpen session on Friday and reported no pain in his right foot.
The second bit of good news is that Matt Kemp finished his post-Spring Training minor league rehab assignment and declared himself ‘ready to go’ for the Dodgers’ home opener on Friday, April 4th against the San Francisco Giants. “I feel really good,” he told reporters on Friday. “I feel really confident. I feel like I can help this team win. It’s going to be fun to get back out here with the guys and back out here playing again. It’s been a while.” Kemp will now workout with the team until he’s activated.
Now, the bad news:
On Wednesday, Kershaw was scratched from starting Sunday night’s road opener (which will now be started by Ryu) because of an inflamed teres major muscle, which stabilizes the upper arm near the upper back. Now, he also will miss his projected start for the home opener against the Giants on Friday. While Kershaw had pitched very well in Australia, he felt enough discomfort in his upper back while playing long-toss on Saturday, that the Dodgers decided to just go ahead and place him on the disabled list (for the first time in his career), instead of trying to get him ready for Friday’s home opener. While Kershaw has always been a warrior when it comes to pitching through aches and pains, the Dodgers are taking no chances whatsoever with their ace pitcher, 2014 Cy Young award winner, and new 215 million-dollar man.
So, all in all, the news this weekend has been fairly positive for the Dodgers–Kemp will be playing within a week, Ryu will start Sunday evening’s road opener, and Kershaw shouldn’t be out for more than two weeks. Now let’s just see how the opening road series goes in San Diego, and whether or not the Dodgers can avoid the ‘injury bug’ for a little while.
