Hanley Ramirez headed back to DL with potentially serious left hamstring injury

It's funny (or not funny) how baseball works sometimes. The Los Angeles Dodgers had to be thrilled when Hanley Ramirez returned three weeks early from his torn thumb ligament that was surgically repaired on March 21. Now, just five days later, they're facing the prospect of losing Ramirez for another extended period of time with an entirely different injury.

While running the bases during the Dodgers 2-1 to the Giants on Friday night, Ramirez attempted to move first to third on an A.J. Ellis single to right field. His aggression may have paid off, too, only somewhere between second and third he felt a pull in his left hamstring and could only hobble the rest of the way before sliding awkwardly.

He was out by ten feet. Now the Dodgers hope he's not out for weeks like Matt Kemp was with a similar injury in 2012.

Here's a little from MLB.com's Ken Gurnick:

Manager Don Mattingly said Ramirez "got it pretty good," comparing it to the hamstring injury suffered by Matt Kemp last year. That one sidelined Kemp for 51 games over two stints on the disabled list because he came back too soon and reinjured it after one game.

Ramirez, who appeared emotionally distraught when reporters arrived in the clubhouse after the Dodgers' 2-1 loss, spoke briefly later.

"I'm going to come back tomorrow and see how it feels," said Ramirez. "I'm going to be fine. I'm going to get back on that field. Soon."

According to Jon Heyman, the Dodgers won't likely give Ramirez the chance to even test it. They're already planning on placing him on the 15-day DL with the plan of calling up Dee Gordon to take his roster spot and play shortstop everyday. After the entire Kemp experience last season, this is advisable move to make. There's no sense in pushing Ramirez or anyone back in May before they're one-hundred percent.

It's also a little bit ironic to note that AT&T Park in San Francisco is the same place Ramirez suffered his thumb injury during the World Baseball Classic. In fact, it happened right in the same area of the field as he was diving for a groundball. There's no doubt that stadium has turned into a house or horrors for several teams in the National League, but the Dodgers seem to be getting the worst of it.

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