Injuries

VALLEY SPRINGS, Calif. - On any given day, this is a quiet, rural town surrounded by miles of hills stacked with golden hay bales. But on Sunday, the sun was hot and weeks of fear had pivoted into confirmation of a sickening suspicion: the brother of a slain 8-year-old girl, Leila Fowler, was now the suspect in the April 27 stabbing death. The community of 7,500 southeast of Sacramento let out a collective breath now that a suspect was in custody. Longing for normalcy, most people took their children to the nearby lake.

For cornerback D.J. Hayden, the ability to thrive in one-on-one situations sets him apart. It was teamwork, though, that saved his life. Hayden, drafted 12th overall by the Oakland Raiders last month, nearly died on the University of Houston practice field Nov. 6, when a seemingly routine collision resulted in an injury that left doctors and trainers in utter disbelief. He suffered a torn vein to the heart, an injury that most often occurs in motor-vehicle accidents or on the battlefield, and, his doctors say, has a mortality rate of 99%. But for the urgent precision of medical personnel - coupled with some unbelievable good fortune - he almost certainly would not have survived.

A train car loaded with lumber rolled from a side track onto a main line and hit a commuter train during rush hour, sending dozens of people to hospitals, authorities said. About 150 people were treated at the scene, and about 80 of those were sent on to hospitals, said Lt. John Hutchinson of the Canton Fire Department. None of the injuries was life-threatening, he said.

When Zack Greinke made his last start for the Dodgers before Wednesday, the team had a winning record and was only half a game out of first place in the National League West. Then Greinke wrestled with the Padres' Carlos Quentin, breaking his collarbone, and things took a turn. Three other pitchers followed the right-hander to the disabled list over the next 10 days and the Dodgers lost 19 of their next 31 games, falling to the bottom of a division they were supposed to win. So when Greinke stepped back on a major league mound for the first time in more than a month, the team was hoping for a return to those halcyon days of early April as much as it was hoping for a win. And for one night at least they got both, with Greinke holding the Washington Nationals to a run on five hits over 51/3 innings and driving in what proved to be the winning run in a 3-1 win at Dodger Stadium.

The WNBA season was barely three weeks old, and already two of the league's biggest stars were out because of injuries. Sparks forward Candace Parker, the 2008 league most valuable player, had torn the meniscus in her right knee. Seattle Storm center Lauren Jackson, the reigning MVP, required surgery on her left hip. Parker won't be back for another month or so, and Jackson will be out even longer. Tough luck? No, more like the continuation of a trend. Players, coaches and trainers say injuries consistently plague the league, and they believe they know why: an off-season that really isn't one. Nearly three-quarters of the league's players also compete abroad, supplementing their relatively modest WNBA incomes with what typically are much larger payments from foreign teams that also might pick up their living expenses and shower them with gifts.

Chrysler Group will recall more than 200,000 of its vehicles, including its Ram pickup truck,  Dodge Challengers and Chargers and Jeep Liberty and Patriots for a variety of problems. In the biggest recall, the automaker will inspect and fix about 120,000 Chrysler 300s, and Dodge Challenger and Chargers sedans from the 2011 and 2012 model years because of an airbag problem. The wrong-sized crimps were used in building the airbag wiring harness, and that can can cause the airbag warning light to illuminate.

In recent years, California has become a favorite venue for workers' compensation claims by athletes with only tenuous ties to the Golden State. Many former pros have won six-figure awards for injuries built up over time even though they've never lived or worked in the state, except to train or play the occasional game here. In some cases, judges have even granted them awards over and above the ones they've already obtained in their home states. Clearly the system needs to be fixed, and five professional sports leagues have stepped forward to say so. But lawmakers shouldn't close the courthouse door completely to athletes who don't feel the brunt of their injuries until long after their playing days are over.

A suspected tagger stranded high above the San Diego Freeway after allegedly painting "OZIE" in huge letters on the side of an overpass plunged 100 feet down to an embankment early Wednesday, fracturing his spine, according to the California Highway Patrol. Daniel Supple, 19, of Woodland Hills was found by CHP officers in a bushy area near the Skirball Center drive exit about 5:45 a.m., said Officer Karen Faciane, a CHP spokeswoman.

Ever found a mysterious black-and-blue mark on your body and wondered how it gotthere? Whether the result of major trauma or an inadvertent bump, bruising is one way to assess damage to tissue. The factors involved in what makes a bruise and how it heals are fairly simple. In an effort to get to the bottom of bruising, we went to three specialists who deal in bruises: Dr. Philomena McAndrew, a Los Angeles hematologist; Dr. William Shankwiler, a Pasadena orthopedic surgeon, and Dr.

When Halina Douglas and her family gathered at a Sizzler's restaurant five years ago to celebrate her certification as a paralegal assistant, it was a poignant measure of how far she had come from the days when she was forced to flee war-torn Ukraine during World War II. But Douglas' moment of victory turned to disaster when a large menu sign fell from the wall and slammed into her head.

Zack Greinke returned to the Dodgers' rotation this week, recovering from surgery on his left shoulder in five weeks, three ahead of schedule. Hanley Ramirez came back last month from a broken thumb two weeks earlier than expected. But head trainer Sue Falsone has little time to celebrate how cutting-edge procedures and rehabilitation methods accelerated Ramirez's and Greinke's recoveries. The Dodgers are in last place not only in the standings, but also in injury prevention.

San Jose winger Raffi Torres' jarring hit of Kings center Jarret Stoll on Tuesday triggered a sizable ripple effect that could alter the tone and course of the teams' Western Conference semifinal playoff series. The ripples could spread far enough for the Kings to lose a valued penalty killer for a while and for the NHL to severely punish Torres, a multiple repeat offender under the league's often murky code of justice. Torres was suspended Wednesday pending an in-person hearing scheduled Thursday in New York with the NHL's Department of Player Safety.

The Dodgers' starting lineup Sunday did not include first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who has been bothered by a strained neck. And there was some doubt outfielders Carl Crawford (hamstring) and Andre Ethier, who banged his toe against the outfield wall Saturday, would play, adding to the growing injury concerns for a team that already has nine players on the disabled list. But Manager Don Mattingly said the small, persistent injuries do little more than complicate his lineup card from time to time.

CHICAGO - All the pieces seemed to fall into - and, in one case, out of - place this season for the Angels to have their most regular lineup in years. The infield was set. The trade of Kendrys Morales to Seattle assured that Peter Bourjos , a favorite of General Manager Jerry Dipoto , would start in center field and slugger Mark Trumbo would have a spot. And the March trade of outfielder Vernon Wells to the Yankees removed any temptation for Manager Mike Scioscia to tinker with the lineup by playing Wells too much.

Every season, Andre Ethier seems to be bothered by something different. His thumb. His knee. His toe. His ankle. But not this season. "I think this is the healthiest I've been in four, five years and the best I've felt every day," the Dodgers outfielder said. "Something's not adding up. " Ethier began Saturday batting .235 with three home runs and 10 runs batted in. Laughing, Ethier recalled how the team's medical services director, Stan Conte , jokingly told him, "Maybe we should slam a hammer on your toe or something and ding you up. " The left-handed-hitting Ethier has historically hit right-handers far better than he has left-handers.

Somebody is going to get killed out there. I've said it a hundred times, thought it a thousand. The only question was, what ballplayer would have to die on the mound before something was done to protect pitchers? The issue, in the news again after Toronto Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ was felled by a line drive Tuesday night, is personal with me because it happened to my son Matt. Twice. He was struck in the face by a line drive in a high school game and on the side of the head during a scrimmage in college.

A year ago, you hardly ever saw them outside the free-weight section of your local gym. Now they're everywhere--on bus drivers, garbage collectors, plumbers, hardware-store clerks, janitors, day-care workers, nursing-home employees, even homemakers. They're back-support belts--those suspendered, Velcro-and-elastic midriff girdles that provide intra-abdominal compression and keep the thoracic and lumbar curves in alignment.

In recent years, California has become a favorite venue for workers' compensation claims by athletes with only tenuous ties to the Golden State. Many former pros have won six-figure awards for injuries built up over time even though they've never lived or worked in the state, except to train or play the occasional game here. In some cases, judges have even granted them awards over and above the ones they've already obtained in their home states. Clearly the system needs to be fixed, and five professional sports leagues have stepped forward to say so. But lawmakers shouldn't close the courthouse door completely to athletes who don't feel the brunt of their injuries until long after their playing days are over.

SAN FRANCISCO - When Don Mattingly asked Adrian Gonzalez how he was doing, the Dodgers' manager just meant the question as a pleasantry. But, for a team that has used the disabled list 10 times in the first five weeks of the season, Mattingly should not have been surprised when the answer was "sore" rather than "fine. " The Dodgers scratched Gonzalez from their lineup Friday because of neck stiffness. Mattingly traced the injury to an incident in Wednesday's game, when Gonzalez collided with an umpire while chasing a foul ball.