A day later, Kemp lands on DL

As the wording of the diagnosis changed, so did Matt Kemp’s demeanor.

Less than 24 hours after joking about what was originally termed a bruised right shoulder, the Dodgers right fielder sat at his locker Tuesday afternoon and glanced sideways as reporters asked him about what was now being called a mild shoulder separation.

More bothersome to Kemp than the discrepancy in medical terminology was a new prognosis that called for him to sit out two weeks instead of only a couple of days after being put on the disabled list.

“It’s an injury that takes time, and you want to make sure it’s healed so it won’t cause other injuries,” said Kemp, who banged into the right-field wall at Dodger Stadium on Monday while attempting to make a leaping grab of Jeff Baker’s triple.

Stan Conte, the Dodgers’ director of medical services, said he initially suspected the separation but was reluctant to use that phrase until Kemp was re-examined Tuesday morning.

“It’s not incorrect to say this guy has a really bad bruise on top of the shoulder,” Conte said. “The medical term is ‘shoulder separation,’ but it amounts to the same thing.”

The absence of Kemp, who was hitting .429, will mean more playing time for Andre Ethier, who had started only three of the Dodgers’ first seven games. Manager Grady Little would not say whether Kemp would automatically reclaim a starting role on his return, saying “we’ll make those decisions when he’s ready to come back.”

The Dodgers recalled reliever Chin-hui Tsao from triple-A Las Vegas, where the right-hander had given up one run and struck out four in two innings this season. Little said Tsao, whose bid to become Colorado’s closer had been derailed by shoulder injuries that forced him to sit out most of the 2005 and 2006 seasons, was “someone who can pitch a couple of innings for us whenever we need him to.”

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One consequence of the Dodgers’ new parking system could be the endangerment of the Union 76 gas station beyond center field, a landmark as old as Dodger Stadium.

Although a line formed 25 deep for the women’s restroom inside the 45-year-old station about an hour before Monday’s home opener, business wasn’t booming as usual at the gas pump.

Station operator Chuck Mercier said his station served about 60 cars Monday, down from the 80 to 100 vehicles it had served per day in years past. Surveying the trickle of vehicles driving past his station -- on a day that 56,000 fans packed Dodger Stadium -- Mercier said, “They’ve pretty much closed me off.”

Mercier said he had e-mailed Dodgers officials about his concerns and hoped that they would try to work with him to ensure the survival of a landmark that has been featured on the Travel Channel as the only gas station on the premises of a major league baseball stadium.

“I would love it to stay there and I would love to have it accessible to the motoring public to give them the service,” Mercier said. “There is a possibility that someday it won’t be there.”

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California League fans got a taste of the Freeway Series on Tuesday night when Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal led off against the Angels’ Bartolo Colon in Rancho Cucamonga.

In his first rehabilitation start for Class-A Inland Empire, Furcal went 0 for 4 with a walk as the designated hitter. Furcal, recovering from a sprained left ankle, could rejoin the Dodgers as soon as Friday.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com