The Dodgers have placed left fielder Manny Ramirez on the 15-day disabled list with a right-calf strain, an injury that caused him to miss two starts last weekend and flared up again as he legged out a base hit on Thursday night at Cincinnati.
"It's a recurrence of the calf, and we just have to get this thing fixed. ... The rationale is, if he's better in a week or 10 days, we might as well do this," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said.
To fill Ramirez's roster spot, the club recalled outfielder Xavier Paul from Triple-A Albuquerque. Paul was expected to arrive in Washington, where the Dodgers were beginning a three-game series with the Nationals, sometime on Friday evening.
There was no immediate indication whether Ramirez's injury is expected to fully heal within the allotted 15 days. He will be eligible to return on May 8 when the Dodgers host Colorado in the penultimate game of their upcoming, 10-game homestand.
Ramirez was off to a sizzling start, hitting .415 with four doubles, two homers, 12 RBI and a .500 on-base percentage. But Paul, who also was called up when Ramirez was suspended for 50 games last May for violating baseball's drug policy, also started off hot at Albuquerque, where he was hitting .361 with a .409 on-base percentage.
Torre informed Ramirez of the move after finding him hitting taking indoor hitting practice before Friday's game against the Washington Nationals.
"He was in the cage hitting today and I told him to pick up a book," Torre joked.
Torre said Ramirez understood the reason the Dodgers weren't waiting to see if the injury improved in a couple of days.
"When he came in to talk to me I said, 'We got to get it better." Torre said.
It's the fourth time in his 18-year career that Ramirez has been placed on the DL, and the first time since 2002, when he fractured his left index finger while playing for Boston.
Tony Jackson covers the Dodgers for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.