Los Angeles Dodgers star shortstop Hanley Ramirez will miss Tuesday night's road game against the Kansas City Royals with an irritated AC joint in his shoulder.
Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reported the news of Ramirez's ailment:
As the Los Angeles Times' Bill Shaikin noted back on June 12, this shoulder seems to be a recurring problem for the three-time All-Star:
Ramirez has been getting dinged up lately. This nagging injury adds to the right ring finger contusion he suffered last week. Some speculation swirled that the finger contributed to Ramirez's throwing error that broke up Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw's perfect game against the Colorado Rockies.
Such an excuse wasn't to be found from Ramirez after the game, though.
"Tough play, you know?" said Ramirez, per the Los Angeles Times' Everett Cook. "You just have to catch the ball and throw it. In that situation you would rather have the error than just let it go."
Kershaw will be getting his first start since throwing that no-hitter on Tuesday versus Kansas City. With the way Ramirez is now making headlines for yet another health setback, that Ramirez error is likely to be discussed a lot leading up to the game.
This also halts, at least for the time being, some recent momentum Ramirez generated in the batter's box, per the Dodgers' official Twitter account:
Part owner Magic Johnson has faith in his club when they're firing on all cylinders—and implicates Ramirez being at his best:
Sometimes MLB players tend to sit out with trivial injuries, or simply to get a day off. Having discomfort in a shoulder is rather excusable for Ramirez to ride the pine for the evening, though. He is too important to the Dodgers' cause moving forward that it's worth letting him rest the joint and hope that the irritation dies down soon.
Trailing the San Francisco Giants by just four games in the National League West, this figures to be a year-long race for the divisional crown. Although Ramirez is batting just .269, which pales in comparison to his full-season peak of .342 in 2009, he is hot recently at the dish. His fielding warrants criticism, yet Ramirez is still a key cog in LA's bid to contend for the World Series.
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