Although no one knows exactly when Dodgers star outfielder Yasiel Puig injured his left hamstring – the first time, that is – but it most likely happened in the first inning of the April 13 game against the Seattle Mariners when Puig stumbled out of the batters box trying to leg out a grounder to Mariners first baseman Logan Morrison. But while Puig was easily out at first, he was not out of the game. In fact, he remained in the game for all 10-innings of the extra-inning affair making several outstanding defensive plays and going 3 for 5 at the plate including a home run.

Although no one knows for sure when Puig initially injured his left hamstring, this was probably it.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But later in the game, Dodgers beat reporter Ken Gurnick tweeted that Puig was limping noticeably after another ground out in the ninth inning.

After that exciting come-from-behind 6-5 Dodgers win on a walk-off base hit by fellow Cuban Alex Guerrero, Puig refused to talk with reporters about his injury.

“Not talking about nothing,” Puig said after the game.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly kept his prize right fielder out of the next three games saying that they just wanted to be cautious with him.

“We thought today was a pretty good day,” said Mattingly during his pre-game media briefing on Friday, April 17. “He ran well, but we’re being cautious. In different parts of the year, he’s running good enough to play, but we don’t want to take that chance at this point.”

During that media briefing I asked the question that (apparently) no one else wanted to ask – Are there any plans to get an MRI on Puig’s hamstring?

“No. No,” Mattingly answered curtly before moving on to other non-Puig questions.

Puig returned to the line-up on Saturday, April 18 – more out of necessity due to Carl Crawford battling the flu than with Puig being healthy. But even though the 24-year-old Cienfuegos, Cuba native went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI, he was again out of the line-up the following day on Sunday, April 19.

During the four games that Puig was out, Andre Ethier filled in for him in right field. The 33-year-old Phoenix native went 4 for 12 (.333) with a home run and three RBIs in those four games which were part of the Dodgers seven-game winning streak from April 12-19.

After a Monday off day, Puig played in all three games against the Giants going 4 for 11 (.363) with two walks in the series. Unfortunately, the Dodgers were swept in that crucial series before heading south for a three-game set against the Padres at Petco Park.

But in the sixth inning of the series opener on Friday night, April 24, Puig re-injured his hamstring while once again trying to run out a grounder. He was replaced by Ethier who went 1 for 1 (as compared to Puig’s 0 for 2) in an eventual and exciting 3-0 win over the Friars.

Not only did Puig re-injure his left hamstring on Friday night, he was also hit on the left knee with a 96-MPH fastball thrown by Padres right-hander Andrew Cashner.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

Just as he did the first time he injured his hamstring, Puig once again refused to talk with reporters after Friday night’s game, generating a number of comments from Dodgers beat writers on Twitter.

When the news is good Puig is always willing to speaks with reporters, but when it’s not, he isn’t.

But while Puig has the option not to speak with the media, Mattingly is compelled to do so, and he did – and this time Mattingly was not curt. He was, however, as evasive as he usually is.

“The DL is always on the table. As of right now, there’s not much more we can do tonight,” Mattingly said.

And Mattingly wasn’t the only Dodgers exec to speak with the media. Apparently Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman did too – although he was almost as evasive as Mattingly was.

Sure sounds like sunshine being blown up our collective noses.

The point to all of this is that Yasiel Puig has now missed five of the last 12 games between April 14-25 (not counting the days off during that time) and there is no indication whatsoever that he will return to the line-up anytime soon. Had Dodgers Vice President of Medical Services Stan Conte  (aka: “medical”) placed Puig on the disabled list (or at least sent him out for an MRI to confirm if the DL was necessary) back on April 13, he would be coming up on his 15 days right about now – although recent history has shown that a 15-day return for a hamstring injury simply does not work.

And while nobody wants to see Puig go on the DL for his hamstring injury, it certainly appears that he now will. It also appears that “medical” mishandled this one bad.