UPDATED: Sunday, August 17, 2014 at 12:45 PM *

When Dodgers third baseman Juan Uribe was pulled from Friday night’s game for a strained right hamstring strain, there wasn’t a Dodger fan alive who wasn’t thinking ‘Oh no, not again’ – and why wouldn’t they? It was the same hamstring that he first strained on May 8 for which he did not go on the disabled list and then strained again on May 20 for which he spent five weeks on the disabled list.

Dodgers third baseman Juan Uribe limps off the field after re-injuring his right hamstring on May 20 against the Mets at Citi Field. (Video capture courtesy of SportsNetLA)

Prior to Saturday night’s game Dodgers manager Don Mattingly confirmed that Uribe was indeed DL-bound, although he seemed optimistic that it wouldn’t be for as long as last time.

“He’s doing okay today, a lot like the original time that he hurt his hammy (on May 8) and was kind of five or six days down,” said Mattingly. “But we decided talking today that we’re going to DL him today and play it a little cautiously with him too, being the same leg. The last time he felt good in four or five days and then he played three or four and then he missed the 30 days, so that’s the one thing that we don’t want to have happen. So we’re going to be cautious and DL him today.

“The positive with Papi (Uribe), we feel like he’ll be ready to go in two weeks we’re hoping,” added Mattingly. “The fact that we’ve got a few off days in there mixed in so it’s really like 12 games I think.”

Okay, so maybe this makes Mattingly feel optimistic but I’m betting that it doesn’t do a whole lot for Dodger fans knowing that there are just over six weeks remaining in the regular season – 37 games to be exact.

But what if it takes Uribe as long to recover this time as the (are you ready for this) 37 days that it took him to return to the line-up last time? Keep in mind that this time he will not have the luxury of being able to rehab with one of the Dodgers minor league affiliates, whose play ends around September 1. Although Mattingly did not address this possibility verbally with reporters, sometimes actions speak louder than words.

Only minutes after his pre-game media briefing, Mattingly was taking throws at first base from his infielders during infield practice and who should be taking grounders at third base but Hanley Ramirez, who himself is currently on the disabled list for a right oblique strain. With the possibility that Uribe might be out for the remainder of the regular season and the fact that Miguel Rojas has proven himself a much better defensive shortstop than Hanley, could the Dodgers finally be considering moving Ramirez over to third base when he comes off the DL?

Although seeing Hanley Ramirez working out at third base on Saturday afternoon was a bit of a surprise, it could very well mean nothing at all. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Even with Mattingly saying nothing about moving Ramirez over to third base in Uribe’s absence, it’s actually a pretty sound idea when you think about it. Not only does Ramirez have a full season of experience at third base (with the Miami Marlins when Jose Reyes took over at short for the 2012 season), he also played third base during the 2013 World Baseball Classic for eventual tournament-winning Team Dominican Republic. (Surely you remember that one – Ramirez broke his thumb during the final game of the 2013 WBC and missed the first two months of the 2013 season with the Dodgers).

Playing third base also bodes well for Ramirez because it does not require as much range as shortstop does; and as most Dodger fans have noticed, Hanley’s range at shortstop has diminished significantly over the past two seasons. And then there are the errors. Ramirez has committed a team-high 12 errors at shortstop thus far this season, most of them throwing, in 329 total chances for a rather dismal .964 fielding percentage. As baseball fans know, a third baseman usually has a little more time to set up and throw to first than does a shortstop. In theory this could reduce the number of throwing errors by Hanley.

The Dodgers could, of course, simply have utility infielder Justin Turner fill in for Uribe as the everyday third baseman until Uribe is ready to return (if he returns, that is), especially now that they have Gold Glove infielder Darwin Barney to spell Dee Gordon and Miguel Rojas for an occasional day off. But while Turner is currently sporting an impressive .304 batting average as a utility infielder/pinch hitter, he certainly doesn’t have the pop that a healthy Hanley Ramirez does. Before going on the DL on August 9, Ramirez had his average up to .277 with 12 home runs and 58 RBIs, as compared to Turner’s three home runs and 25 RBIs.

But how far away is Ramirez from returning from the DL for his strained oblique – an injury which inherently takes a month or more to heal properly? Again, Mattingly put on his rose-colored glasses.

“I try to be optimistic, I think Hanley I feel like he’s doing pretty well,” said Mattingly. “He was able to do some things [on Friday]. I feel like when it’s time for him to come off [the disabled list] he’s going to be ready to come off, so that’s a positive in our eyes.”

How all of this plays out remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain – the Dodgers have very little margin for error with a tenuous 4.5-game lead over the second place Giants in the NL West with only 37 games remaining.

Hang on Dodger fans – it’s going to be a wild ride.

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* UPDATED: Sunday, August 17, 2014 at 12:45 PM:

During Sunday’s pre-game media briefing, Mattingly had this to say about Ramirez working out at third base before Saturday’s game:

“He was taking balls in center field, too. I think he just likes making everybody raise their eyes and ask questions. But there’s no talk at all [about moving Hanley to third base].”

I guess we’ll see about that, huh?