Dodgers' Vicente Padilla Out Until June

Dodgers' Vicente Padilla Out Until June

The Los Angeles Dodgers pitching rotation, already creaking at the back end, took another hit with the news that Vicente Padilla will not be back until June at the earliest. Manager Joe Torre told the media before today's game, "He's feeling better, but not having thrown for a while, I don't see him helping us this month. When you have a starter who hasn't pitched, there's a lot of work to do to get back on the mound at this level."

Padilla, who took the mound on Opening Day for the Dodgers, has an irritated radial nerve - our Dodgers blog, True Blue LA, explains what that is, if you're interested - and hasn't pitched for LA since April 22. The starter said, "In the past I've been able to throw through this, but I can't even do that. Never had pain this bad before." Over his four starts, he had posted a 1-1 record and a disappointing 7.06 ERA.

No replacement in the Dodgers rotation has been announced at the time of writing, but TBLA reckons, "It could be John Ely or Carlos Monasterios, and Charlie Haeger hasn't yet been totally ruled out of the mix either."