Dodgers News: Carl Crawford Dealing With Back Injury, Joins Ethier

The hits keep on coming for the Dodgers after they lost 19-3 to the Giants and it sounds like outfielder Carl Crawford is dealing with a minor injury.

Trailing from the start tonight, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly pulled Crawford and Yasiel Puig from the game and it made sense given the recent string of injuries. However, according to Tony Jackson of Dodgerscribe.com, Crawford was pulled for a reason:

Carl Crawford, however, was pulled from the game when he experienced a flare-up of a back issue he has been dealing with. Mattingly said, We’ll see how he is tomorrow, which is usually Mattingly codespeak for He’s going to get tomorrow off to rest it, and THEN we’ll see how he is.

Crawford joins Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier as prominent stars that are dealing with injuries. It’s the first many have heard about Crawford’s injury as the outfielder hasn’t looked the same at the plate since he suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the season.

The good news is that all the injuries sound like their minor and given the Dodgers huge lead in the NL West, they can afford to let him rest. While the Dodgers likely won’t gain home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs, they’re currently tied with the Pirates and Cardinals for home field in the NLDS.

It’ll be interesting what type of lineup Mattingly rolls out tomorrow afternoon after the Dodgers lost 19-3 and can salvage a split in the four-game series with the Giants.

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In case you missed it, be sure to find out more about Hanley Ramirez’s hamstring injury.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkphTuNyf6A