With Russell Martin out of tonight’s starting lineup after injuring his right hip in last night’s contest, the Dodgers made a roster move before tonight’s game against the Padres to add an extra catcher, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
A.J. Ellis was recalled and Xavier Paul was optioned to Albuquerque
Paul was hitting .231 this season with a .277 on-base percentage and .314 slugging percentage (all figures higher than Garret Anderson, by the way), but had struggled since being recalled last month for his third stint with the club. Since July 3, Paul had just 12 hits in 64 at-bats, hitting .188/.232/.234.
In other news, Rafael Furcal got some good news and bad news, per a series of tweets from Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times:
Good news for Rafael Furcal. His MRI showed no disk or nerve problems.
A very relieved Furcal said he is hoping to return in 3-5 days.
[Manager Joe] Torre has ruled out Furcal for the rest of the week.
Furcal had exited Monday night’s game with San Diego early because of tightness in his back.