Dodger manager Don Mattingly got the last laugh with reporters during Sunday’s per-game interview saying that Yasiel Puig was out of today’s lineup and could be out anywhere from “…one day to two weeks.”

Needless to say, this had several reports pounding away on their smartphones tweeting out this shocking news, but when questioned further, Mattingly said that he was kidding… sort of. He then said that he wasn’t really kidding because of his poor track record when it comes to predicting when his injured players actually returned.

Mattingly described Puig’s injury as “tightness” and “soreness” in his left hip as a result of his spectacular diving catch during Saturday night’s blowout 19-3 loss the the hated Giants.

Puig’s spectacular diving catch on Saturday night is arguably his best yet, but it came at a potentially devastating cost. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

The one definite about Puig is that according to Mattingly he is not be available to pinch hit in today’s series finale against the Giants, which he then followed with “probably not.”

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Other Mattingly pre-game notes:

• Mattingly said that rehabbing center fielder Matt Kemp would rejoin the team in Arizona on Monday where he will do running and other baseball activities in front of Mattingly and the Dodgers medical staff. Depending on how he does he could be activated from the DL for Monday’s game against the second place Diamondbacks.
• Mattingly said that in spite of right-hander Stephen Fife’s rough outing on Saturday night, he is healthy. He added that Fife is in a difficult position in that he cannot do his normal pre-game routine coming out of the bullpen but there is nothing that they can do about this with the starting rotation basically set for the next two weeks.
• According to Mattingly, Hanley Ramirez will probably be the first of the walking wounded to return to action – possibly as early as Monday or Tuesday in Arizona. He added that Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier are probably the furthest away from returning – if you discount the Puig nonsense, that is.
• Although a very short sample size, Mattingly was very pleased with Dee Gordon’s performance at second base in Saturday night’s game for the first time in his MLB career. “He looked really good,” said the Dodger manager.
• Mattingly said that oft-injured left-hander Chris Capuano is close to returning from his groin strain, but will do so out of the Dodger bullpen.