Dodgers pitcher Jon Garland likely to start season on the disabled list By Bill Shaikin The right-hander strains an oblique muscle on his left side during a game Wednesday. Such injuries usually require at least a month of recovery. The Dodgers built this season's team upon a foundation of starting pitching, but the foundation appears in danger of crumbling before the team breaks camp. Jon Garland is expected to start the season on the disabled list after leaving Wednesday's game because of a strained oblique muscle on his left side. The Dodgers sent him for an MRI examination late Wednesday and plan to announce the results Thursday, but such injuries generally require a month or more of recovery. The Dodgers already have lost Vicente Padilla for at least the first month of the season after surgery to repair a nerve below his right elbow, leaving them with four healthy starters for now. Manager Don Mattingly said the Dodgers would not need a fifth starter until April 12, two weeks into the season. General Manager Ned Colletti declined to discuss the situation until the Dodgers could get Garland's test results, but the top candidates for a rotation vacancy would figure to be John Ely and Tim Redding, who have combined for 15 scoreless innings this spring. Ely posted a 1.80 earned-run average in his first six starts last season and an 11.01 ERA in his last six starts. Redding has pitched for five major league teams but was released from two triple-A clubs last season. Garland, 31, has pitched at least 190 innings in each of the last nine years. He has not been put on the disabled list since 2000, when he sat out two weeks because of a bruised right elbow. He said he never has had an oblique injury. He clutched his left side after delivering a pitch in the second inning of Wednesday's game. "It honestly felt like it was cramping up," Garland said. "Standing here doing nothing, it feels fine. If I were to pick up a baseball and throw it, I guess it wouldn't feel good." http://0rz.tw/J8UPX --

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