Sports

Dodgers lose Matt Kemp for at least four weeks this time

falsone-on-kemp-53112.jpgHead trainer Sue Falsone explains on a short Dodgers video that outfielder Matt Kemp, just back from a hamstring muscle strain, has reinjured the area of the first injury and has a second strain as well. Both are grade one strains, she said, meaning they are at the less severe end of the scale. Data from other players calls for a "best case" return to play in four weeks, she said. He missed two weeks earlier in May with the first hamstring strain. He'll take longer to rehab this time because it's a repeat injury and there are two strains.

On the video you see Kemp looking a bit lame as he ran the bases during Wednesday night's game. In the dugout he breaks a bat over his thigh in frustration at being hurt again. Until the first injury he was among the league's leaders in several hitting categories, including home runs. It's starting to look like he may not play enough games to have a Most Valuable Player-level season, as the fans have been chanting at Dodger Stadium.


More by Kevin Roderick:
'In on merit' at USC
Read the memo: LA Times hires again
Read the memo: LA Times losing big on search traffic
Google taking over LA's deadest shopping mall
Gustavo Arellano, many others join LA Times staff
Recent Sports stories on LA Observed:
Partner practice makes perfect
Local kid makes an impression at the BNP Paribas Open
Now who do I root for? World Cup down to its final eight
Yes, there will still be a World Cup. No, the USA is not playing. So what now?
Dodger Stadium announcement
The night Kirk Gibson made deadline
They said it in Indian Wells
The kids on court at Indian Wells