Injury Roll Call: Dodgers Risk Kershaw, Hanley & Victorino Hurt, Billingsley & Lilly On The Mend

Clayton Kershaw has an impingement of the right hip and threw off a mound on Friday prior to making the start Sunday. I’ve made my feelings on the topic known before: they should shut him down.

Don Mattingly, via Dylan Hernandez, said:

“The last thing I want to be involved with is pitching Clayton Kershaw hurt. If I knew something … I couldn’t sit here for it.”

And yet, that’s exactly what he and the organization did.

Though doctors said Kershaw couldn’t hurt his hip any worse, but he could have hurt his arm compensating for the injured hip, which Chad explained earlier and Orel Hershiser explained during the game.

We all should remember how well compensating for an injured body part worked for another dynamite hurler, Eric Gagne. I’ve said it a thousand times, but again, there is baseball beyond 2012.

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Hanley Ramirez left Sunday’s game after fouling a ball off of his leg. X-rays on his shin were negative.

Despite his struggles of late, the last thing the Dodgers needed was another serious injury at the end of the year.

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Chad Billingsley played catch with medical director Stan Conte on Friday. Ted Lilly underwent shoulder surgery Friday and can resume throwing in 6-to-8 weeks.

The Dodgers have to hope both will be healthy for 2013 or the rotation might be a bit of a mess, at least initially.

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Shane Victorino missed the series against Cincinnati with a sore wrist.

I suppose this is an indictment of both his performance and the offense of late (since Juan Rivera did nothing), but it was hard to say anybody even noticed much that he was gone.