Just because the Dodgers are in the playoffs, does not mean the injuries are going to stop rolling in. After Friday's painful, 13-inning, five-hour loss, the Dodgers learned that their sluggers Andre Ethier and Hanley Ramirez would miss Game 2.
Many thought Ethier would be given the day off after the extra-innings affair in Game 1 anyways, but the ankle injury that kept him out of center field since September 13 held up worse than expected.
It is not clear how long Ethier will be down for, but he did go for X-Rays and those do not show any damage. Skip Schumaker resumed his role as Ethier's replacement in the NLDS, and went 0-3.
Hanley Ramirez also sat out Game 2. Evaluating the status of his bruised ribs was a game-time decision.
On Friday, he got plunked in his first at-bat, and appeared to be in pain on several plays throughout the game. He left the stadium during Saturday's game and went to a hospital for X-Rays.
After the game it was announced that the X-Rays came back negative, so that is worth at least a sigh of relief. Nick Punto started in his place, hit 1-3, and made some good defensive plays.
The Dodgers definitely felt the absence of their sluggers in Game 2 as they had just five hits and were shutout. Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez combined to go 0-7 with six strikeouts.
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Of course, on top of all of this, the Dodgers were already down one outfielder. Matt Kemp had shoulder surgery on Thursday, but is with the club as a spectator in St Louis.
The Dodgers are in quite the hole down 2-0 in the NLCS, and with these banged-up stars it is hard to imagine them advancing to the World Series.
