Jordan Hopes Latest Injury Is Only a Bad Bruise

What began as a rough day got even worse for Dodger center fielder Brian Jordan, who jarred his neck while making a diving catch Tuesday night and was knocked out of Wednesday night’s game by a fifth-inning Shawn Chacon fastball that hit him in the back of the left hand.

Jordan was sent to Rose Medical Center for X-rays, which Manager Jim Tracy said were negative, but when Jordan, who was diagnosed with a very deep bone bruise, returned to the clubhouse after the game, those X-rays seemed more inconclusive.

“A lady [at the hospital] said she saw something, but they don’t believe it’s a fracture,” said Jordan, whose X-rays will be evaluated by an orthopedist today. “We may not know for seven to 10 days. Hopefully, the swelling will go down in a day or two, and I can get back out there.”

Jordan, who was fitted with a hard cast to wear as a protective measure, probably shouldn’t have been out there in the first place. He received acupuncture treatment on his neck and upper back Wednesday and said before the game that his neck was so stiff he could barely move his head from side to side.

“I would say the normal man would not play today,” Jordan said. “But I’m not a normal man.”

Jordan said his impact with the ground Tuesday night “was like being in a car accident and getting whiplash.” The injury was a factor in his fourth-inning error Wednesday night, when he dropped Todd Helton’s fly ball for an error.

“I should have gone with my first instinct and sat out today -- I guess I’m too stupid,” Jordan said. “When I missed that ball, I looked at the wall at the last second, because I was worried about running into it and hurting my neck. I should have just sat out.”

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Before the injury, Tracy said he would consider batting Jordan cleanup against left-handed starters, thus breaking up left-handed Shawn Green and Fred McGriff in the order with a right-handed bat. Jordan is hitting .400 (12 for 30) against lefties this season.

But Tracy plans to keep Green and McGriff in the three and four spots against right-handers, even though that might leave the Dodgers vulnerable to left-handed relievers in later innings.

Green is batting .313 (21 for 67) against left-handers, but McGriff, a career .268 hitter against lefties, is batting only .179 (10 for 56) against them this season.

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McGriff, who lost third baseman Adrian Beltre’s throw in the sun during Colorado’s five-run first inning Tuesday night, an error that cost the Dodgers two runs, wore flip-down sunglasses for the first three innings Wednesday night. He did not lose any balls in the sun but did drop a relay throw from second base for an error in the fifth inning.... Reserve outfielder Daryle Ward has had a sore right hand for about two weeks. He pinch-hit in the eighth inning and struck out, lowering his average to .169. ... The Dodgers reacquired outfielder Shane Victorino, who was taken by San Diego in last winter’s Rule V draft. He was assigned to double-A Jacksonville.