It is news that every Dodger fan has been dreading but wasn’t entirely unexpected. Prior to his team’s rain-delayed 3-0 shutout of the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on Monday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts broke this news:

“You go through surgery, you go through rehab, you start throwing, you ramp up velocity, workload, and there is bound to be some soreness, and that’s where we’re at,” Roberts told reporters before Monday’s game. “So then you do the scan to see if there’s a new incident, which there wasn’t, so that’s why we feel very comfortable and confident that this is just a blip.”

“I know there was a little bit of soreness after his last outing (at Low-A Rancho Cucamonga on June 19), so he did, he touched it, and so we’ll see, you know, what that means for him going forward. This is part of the process, as far as anyone that goes through rehab, that goes through surgery, on their way back,” added Roberts. “This is what he’s going through right now, the soreness. So at this moment in time, we’re gonna hold off on the throwing and give it some time. A week is not long enough to worry about cutting into the buildup that he’s already had, but I think it’s a way to kind of get us back to get the soreness out.

“I just think that given the calendar, we just want to make sure that he’s good to go, so there’s no hard date for him (to return),” Roberts continued. “And we’ve been very clear from the get-go, and so, when he’s ready to go and when he’s ready to progress, that’s when it is. And so, I just don’t want to give him any hard timeline.”

In that June 19th three-inning rehab start with the Quakes, the 36-year-old Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in Dallas allowed one run on two hits, with one walk and five strikeouts.

It had long been hoped – and speculated – that the 10-time All-Star, five-time ERA title-holder, three-time Triple Crown winner, and former MLB MVP would be ready to return to action following next month’s All Star break. Needless to say, that won’t be happening now. The new hope is that Kershaw will be ready for the postseason, should the Dodgers get there.

Play Ball!

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