Injury

MINNEAPOLIS -- Scott Downs has had some tough breaks this season, suffering a bruised right ankle on April 12 at Minnesota and a bruised left knee Sunday against Toronto in Anaheim, both injuries putting the reliever on crutches. The 36-year-old left-hander has also been very fortunate. The April injury looked serious -- he twisted the ankle as he covered first, was stepped on by the base-runner and had to be helped off the field -- but Downs avoided the disabled list and missed only three games.

Late in the third quarter of the Lakers' loss to the Washington Wizards (103-100) on Friday, Antawn Jamison was injured when his shot was blocked by Kevin Seraphin. The Lakers forward left the game with his team up by seven but would not return. X-rays were negative. Jamison left Staples Center with his right wrist in a brace. An MRI confirmed a sprained wrist but Jamison has ligament damage which could lead to off-season surgery. While he's listed as day-to-day, Jamison will try to play through the pain.  That may be noble, but how significantly will the wrist alter his shooting mechanics?

Matthew Stafford's playing status is up in the air for the Detroit Lions' game Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. That's all we know about the Lions' starting quarterback  following Coach Jim Schwartz's meeting with the press Monday -- which is basically what we already knew before Schwartz's comments. “I don't have any comment on how anything went with him,” Schwartz said of Stafford, who was scheduled to have an MRI after straining a muscle in his right leg during the Lions' 44-41 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

Laker fans haven't just scratched their heads wondering if Steve Blake will ever become that consistent three-point shooter the Purple & Gold hoped he'd become. Through two seasons with the Lakers, Blake has experienced several odd mishaps that left him sidelined. Blake sat out for a week, including the first game of the 2011 NBA playoffs, when he suddenly contracted chicken pox from an unknown source. Last season, Blake also missed 13 games because of a rib injury that worsened after making an awkward twist during a regular-season contest.

TUCSON - While General Manager Ned Colletti tried to downplay the anticipated eight-week absence of Hanley Ramirez, Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly acknowledged he was concerned about the left side of the  infield. “To be honest with you, I'm not comfortable with anything that's going on at short right now,” Mattingly said. Luis Cruz or Dee Gordon will replace Ramirez at shortstop. Gordon is viewed as having a higher ceiling but also a lower floor. If the inexperienced Gordon is chosen, Cruz can play his more natural position at third base.

No longer do the Lakers face the nagging question of whether Andrew Bynum can stay healthy. It affected them for seven years as Bynum slowly but surely became an elite center. It left the training staff busily in finding ways to keep his creaky knees healthy. It left the Lakers' coaching staff exercising caution so another incident wouldn't occur. That's why the news that Bynum will sit out at least three weeks at the opening of Sixers training camp partly because of a bone bruise in his right knee sounded all too familiar.

Vanessa Zamarripa, the Pac-12 Conference gymnast of the year, is a fifth-year senior at UCLA who has steadied the Bruins as three key team members suffered season-ending injuries. Hers was a voice of experience based on how she dealt with her own serious injury, a torn Achilles' tendon she sustained two years ago. "I'd be happy to give Kobe [Bryant] some tips," Zamarripa quipped Thursday before practice in advance of the 12-team NCAA championships that begin Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

USC receiver George Farmer suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will sit out the 2013 season, a person close to the situation said Wednesday. Farmer, a junior, was injured Tuesday while catching a pass in a non-contact practice drill. He will undergo surgery in a few weeks. It is the latest setback for Farmer, who was slowed by injuries his first two seasons but was enjoying a productive spring and making a push to become a regular part of the receiver rotation.

NEW ORLEANS - Chauncey Billups started for the first time in three games for the Clippers and was playing well until he aggravated his strained right groin early in the third quarter. Billups left the game with 10 minutes 40 seconds left in the third and was replaced by Willie Green. Billups didn't return and has been listed as day to day by the Clippers. "Yeah, it's frustrating," Billups said. "It's always frustrating to be banged up and in and out a little bit. I just mark it down as part of the process.

When you light the fuse on those fireworks this Fourth of July, you might want to wear goggles: A new study reveals that exploding fireworks can send unspent explosive material and debris straight into the eyes of those standing nearby. Thousands of people around the U.S. head to the emergency room every summer with fireworks-related injuries, and many of those injuries are to the eyes. But because fireworks send out potentially harmful waves of pressure when they explode, it was unknown whether those pressure waves were the cause of injuries, or whether small particles from the fireworks were causing the damage by physically striking the eye. Researchers at Virginia Tech and Wake Forest took on the patriotic duty of testing which hypothesis was correct.