On June 27, Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier was removed after one plate appearance with an injury. The injury was revealed to be an oblique strain, and while those usually result in stints on the disabled list, the Dodgers insisted Ethier's was mild, and that he was simply day-to-day. Ethier would be back in no time!
Ethier hasn't played since. Wednesday, we get news of the expected:
OFFICIAL: @Dodgers today placed OF Andre Ethier on the 15-day DL w/ a strained left oblique (retroactive to 6/28) and reinstated Mark Ellis.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 4, 2012
Oblique strains always mean DL stints. You can put them off for only so long. This stint is retroactive and with the All-Star break coming up, the Dodgers won't be missing Ethier for much longer, but they were kidding themselves if they thought Ethier could recover from baseball's most annoying and stupid injury in a matter of days.
On the plus side, Mark Ellis is back. Recall that Ellis came terrifyingly close to losing his left leg. In May.