Dodger shortstop Rafael Furcal will undergo surgery to repair a bulging disc leaving his season (and his team's playoff chances) in doubt.  He is expected to miss two months at the minimum, but that means he would be returning in September which leaves precious few games left in the regular season.  Los Angeles started Thursday just 1.5 games behind Arizona, and in the West two good weeks could create a comfortable cushion in the standings.

 

Furcal was hitting .366 with a 1.045 OPS at the time of his injury.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been a disappointment all season.  The off-season signings of manger Joe Torre and slugging outfielder Andruw Jones brought optimism to Chavez Ravine, but that has morphed into a 38-43 record at the halfway point.  Torre has not been able to ignite a punchless offense, and Jones is among 10 players currently on the disabled list (which is probably a good thing - he's been terrible at the plate).

By the miracle of the mediocre National West however, the Dodgers still stand just 2.5 games out of first place and the playoff spot that comes with

Three injury situations to keep an eye on... 

Francisco Liriano - Liriano was horrible in his three starts in the majors this year, with an 11.33 ERA and a 2.71 WHIP.  In his final start on April 24th he didn't make it out of the first inning, allowing five hits, three walks, and six earned runs, and only recording two outs.  Liriano has since turned things around in the minors, with a 2.77 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 5.54 K/9 ratio, and a 2.77 BB/9 ratio in his last four starts.  The last three outings were the first instances this season where Liriano made it to the sixth

Rafael Furcal hit the DL with a bad back. He had been one of the hottest hitters in baseball through the early going, so losing him will undoubtedly affect your fantasy team especially because of the dearth of options at shortstop. Furcal should be back and hitting soon after he is eligible to be activated so his injury shouldn't cause too much worry, but you still

Well, the Rockies didn’t make quite that many changes to their roster, but they were close.  Struggling starter Franklin Morales was demoted to work on his consistency and control leaving a hole in the rotation.  Kip Wells was put on the DL so he couldn’t spot start.  With no other viable candidates, the Rockies completed a trade for Kansas City’s Jorge De La Rosa who will slide into the rotation and pitch on Saturday.  De La Rosa’s been

 

Last season Rafael Furcal appeared in just 138 games for the Dodgers after he sprained his left ankle in Spring Training.  The injury plagued him the entire year and never fully healed affecting every part of his game from his hitting and ability to run.  “Last year I was hurt in spring training and I never could get fine because I played every day on my bad ankle,” Furcal told reporters Wednesday after a win over the Pirates. 

Over the previous five seasons Furcal had averaged 153 games. &