Fife Optioned, Gordon Called Up, Pray For Hanley’s Shoulder

Yesterday afternoon’s 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field was terrifying to say the least. The Dodgers had swept the four game series, but it came with a hefty price. The Dodgers lost shortstop Hanley Ramirez for an unspecified amount of time.

Hanley hurt his shoulder on a foul pop up in the seventh inning of yesterday’s win. A stupid huge Chicago wind gust blew a foul pop towards the third base stands. Hanley following the ball made the catch on the run but toppled over into the stands head first.

Yes Dee Gordon is back-Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The play was horrifyingly scary. I was screaming for someone to catch him. Anyone really, please! Why weren’t the Cubs fans helping Hanley? Why would they? Those disgruntled sheep could care less if a Dodger is injured. I could almost see it in slow motion. I screamed at my tv for someone to help him. Oh god I thought, please let Crawford or AJ, or anyone catch him before he goes into the stands. Oh please, catch him! Oh god no no no no!

Hanley toppled head first into the stands, with his feet in the air and made the catch but came up noticeably injured. Hanley was clutching his right shoulder. In case you were wondering this is not the same shoulder that he had surgery on in 2011 when he was with the Marlins.

Hanley was removed from the game and listed as day-to-day. He was reportedly wearing a sling in the clubhouse, and according to the club, an MRI was scheduled for today.

We’ve been waiting all day, petrified out of our minds, waiting for results. According to a tweet from Bill Plunkett, who first reported the news, the Dodgers have canceled Hanley’s MRI. Finally the club announced the news that they have optioned Stephen Fife back to Albuquerque and called up shortstop Dee Gordon. Of course Fife was not optioned based on his performance. Fife was again solid yesterday pitching 5.1 scoreless frames and picking up the win. The Dodgers made the move with the shortstop position in mind. Hanley may not be back for a while so this makes sense.

What does this mean for Hanley? I have no idea. We don’t know yet. We could speculate that calling up Gordon indicates that Hanley is going to be out for a while. Or it could just mean that the Dodgers don’t want to play a man short on the bench during a tough four game series in St. Louis against the Cardinals starting tonight. Either way, we should know more about Hanley soon. As far as we know Hanley’s injury is still a jammed shoulder. Of course Hanley is not in the Dodger’s starting lineup tonight, replaced by Nick Punto at short.

Losing Hanley could mean a death blow to the Dodgers chances of winning a World Series.  The Dodgers can’t go any long period of time without Hanley’s bat in the lineup. Without Hanley the Dodgers likely won’t be able to score enough runs to win games.

Hanley has been the main ingredient in what has been a four star recipe for success. Along with Yasiel Puig the Dodgers have gone on a historic winning streak vanquishing the rest of the National League West in their wake. Hanley has been the spark in the middle of the order. Hanley is batting .361 with 11 home runs and 37 RBI in 209 plate appearances. Hanley has already missed time this year due to a broken thumb, and a strained hamstring.

If the Dodgers have canceled the MRI then it’s possible that Hanley’s injury isn’t as bad as it looked. We may be talking about him being out days instead of weeks. Still the thought is petrifying. Until then pray to whatever higher power, or god, you believe in that Hanley is not seriously hurt.