The earliest that Matt Kemp can return from the 15-day Disabled List is Tuesday, May 29 and simply put, it can’t happen soon enough. Whether anyone is willing to admit it or not, the impact of Kemp’s absence is clearly written on the face of his teammates and, quite frankly, it is a bit concerning. Oh sure, being in first place in the NL West carries with it a certain swagger and that is still there, but you can almost see a hint of distress in the eyes of the rest of the team – a look similar to that of little leaguers about to face the biggest and baddest opposing team or pitcher. Now this is certainly not to say that the Dodgers have lost their confidence, not yet anyway, but you can sense that with each loss while Kemp is on the shelf it is waining a little.

The good news is that the kids who have been called up to replace their respective ailing teammates are all doing a pretty good job on both sides of the ball, but unfortunately that little tingle of excitement that you get in the pit of your stomach every time Matt Kemp steps into the batter’s box just isn’t there; that (almost) sure thing feeling that you are about to say “He did it again!” But, it is what it is and life goes on.

In all honesty, there is no way that the Dodgers can be expected to go without losing three in a row and more likely four or five in a row at some point during the season. The problem is that they are on the verge of doing so for the first time this year heading into Thursday night’s game against the suddenly hot San Diego Padres with the St. Louis Cardinals laying in wait for a three-game series over the weekend. The bigger problem, however, is that Kemp’s earliest possible return date is still 12 days away and that is only if he returns on his first eligible day back. The silver lining to all of this is that MLB rules allow for players on the DL to make re-hab starts before their actual eligibility return date and depending on how quickly Kemp recovers, this might allow him to return on May 29 when the Dodgers face the Brewers at Dodger Stadium in what will most likely be a rather loud Braun-bashing affair.

Needless to say, it is going to be a very long couple of weeks.

All of that said, the Dodgers continue to get a little help from their division rivals who seem to lose when the Dodgers lose. Unfortunately, these are the rare times when the Dodgers could also be gaining a game on them in the standings; and come September, these could-have-gained-ground games will loom big.