As Dodger fans have come to know Hanley Ramirez, they have also come to know his tweets saying that he will return to the line-up ‘tomorrow or the next day’ are more optimistic than realistic. And while Ramirez’s optimism and enthusiasm are refreshing, even his manager has come to know that Hanley tends to get a little ahead of himself.

“We know that Hanley always says that he’s ready to return, but he’s not ready to return until medical says he’s ready to return,” Mattingly said recently.

And what does medical say?

“He is progressing well,” said Dodgers head trainer Sue Falsone prior to Monday night’s game as she watched Ramirez taking grounders and throwing across the diamond to Mattingly at first base. “He’s getting close (to returning).”

Hanley’s return to the Dodger line-up is likely only only days away.
(Photo credit – Kevin Sullivan)

After his infield work, Ramirez took batting practice and launched a couple of his trademark line-drive home runs into the Left Field Pavilion along with line drive hits to all fields, giving further support to Falsone’s claim that his return is imminent.

As for 23-year-old fireballer Jose Dominguez, he is still a few weeks away from returning to the Dodger bullpen, if he returns at all.

“(Dominguez)” is in Arizona right now,” said Falsone about the San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic native. “Quad injuries can take up to six weeks to heal and it’s only been three weeks, so he still has a ways to go.”

Last Friday, Mattingly said that Dominguez was just beginning to play catch and hasn’t begun baseball activities yet. Dominguez strained his left quadriceps on July 22 while attempting to run down a pop foul ball that was ultimately caught by catcher A.J. Ellis. Although some speculate that Dominguez is simply being held back until September 1 when rosters expand, Mattingly said that Dominguez’s injury is very real and that he is not coming along as quickly as they had hoped.

“We were hoping that (Dominguez) would be ready by September 1st, but it looks like it might be longer than that now,” said Mattingly.

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Dodger notes

• Although recently acquired Dodger starter Rickey Nolasco got off to a rough start in Monday night’s game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium allowing two runs on four consecutive hits in the second inning, he settled in nicely and at one point retired 11 consecutive batters before coming out in the 7th inning. Nolasco picked up the win to improve his season record to 9-9 (4-1 with the Dodgers) while lowering his season ERA to 4.39. He allowed just the two runs on 7 hits while walking two and striking out 2 in his 6.1 innings of work on Monday night.

After a shaky start, Dodger right-hander Rickey Nolasco settled in and at one point retired 11 Mets in a row. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

• Dodgers rookie sensation Yasiel Puig made a couple more incredible defensive plays on Monday night in addition to knocking in the eventual game-winning run on a sacrifice fly to left field. In the 2nd inning, Puig barehanded a one hopper to right off the bat of Mets shortstop Omar Quintanilla and narrowly missed forcing out Mets catcher John Buck at second base. But the key play of the night came in the top of the 7th inning when Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy hit a deep drive into the right field gap with two outs and the bases loaded. Puig got a great jump on the ball and ran a perfect route and was able to make a game-saving catch on the dead run, which undoubtedly would have cleared the bases had the ball landed. Although Puig has made several dramatic catches since his June 3 call-up (most of which involved him running into walls), this was among his best catches to date.
• If you missed J.P. Hoornstra’s recent article on Clayton Kershaw it is definitely worth a read: Dodgers Pitcher Clayton Kershaw is working on a masterpiece