Recovery already underway for Ethier
Dodgers outfielder expected to miss 10-14 weeks with broken right leg
PHOENIX -- Andre Ethier's leg is broken, but not his spirit.
Talking to the media for the first time since Friday's foul ball left him with a freak injury, Ethier said he's wearing a bone stimulator 24/7, taking laser treatment and open to all suggestions.
"Maybe I'll try kale and chrysanthemum. I hear they're high in Vitamin K," Ethier said.
Ethier has 10 to 14 weeks to try whatever the new training staff can come up with to heal the cracks in his right leg. He'll be on crutches for six weeks before he's allowed to put weight on the broken weight-bearing tibia.
• Ethier out 10-14 weeks with fractured tibia
"It's tough to get this close," said Ethier, who turns 34 next month. "A lot of hard work I put in this winter to get to the point where I'm at, and for us to come together as a team and figure where we're at. That's the tough part. But I said a couple weeks ago, the thing that's nice about the way the team is set up is there's a lot of depth and guys able and ready to step up."
Of course, Ethier considered himself one of those guys until Friday, especially after last year's bounce-back campaign not only won back his starting spot, but saw him become one of the more consistent offensive players in the lineup.
"The most disappointing part is having games taken from you," Ethier said. "I was talking to the younger guys in texts. You don't realize how many opportunities you get, and something like this takes games from you; that's the toughest part to swallow.
"It's so tough to fight to play at this level and repeat it to become one where you can make a difference. I'm not tooting too much, but I felt I was making a difference again to some part and providing a guy that can make a difference, and to have that taken away by something so freak, it makes it tough."
Ethier explained that the foul ball struck his leg in an unprotected three-inch gap between his knee pad and shin guard. He said he felt a throbbing in the dugout after coming out of the game, but he was optimistic that he had a bad bone bruise until the fourth day, when he couldn't put weight on the leg without severe pain. That led to a bone scan that revealed the fractures.
"We looked over the video again a few times, and the combination of twisting and torque and the ball hitting at same time led to the cracks," Ethier said.
"The first two or three weeks are going to be real tough. Not playing and not being active, sitting around and not doing much. I guess I'll be lazy for a reason, but not the reason I want to be lazy for."