Injury

SEATTLE - Pitching in games wasn't so much the problem for reliever Sean Burnett, who had a 1.04 earned-run average in 11 appearances before being put on the 15-day disabled list because of forearm irritation Sunday. It was the discomfort Burnett felt between appearances, preventing him from pitching on consecutive days, that sent the veteran left-hander to the sidelines for at least two weeks. "Pitching-wise, I feel better than I have all year," said Burnett, who had surgery to remove two bone spurs from his elbow in October.

They say these things even out over the course of a season. They say a lot of nonsense. All the Dodgers know now is that they are struggling to maintain a healthy roster. Friday night Mark Ellis joined the waiting list in the training room after coming up lame while running out a grounder in the fifth inning. He grabbed his right leg a few strides before the bag and then left the game. [ Updated at 9:40 p.m.: The Dodgers said Ellis left the game with a strained right quad.

Lakers forward Metta World Peace took to Twitter to announce he had a cyst in his knee drained. "My knee is in really good shape," World Peace tweeted with a photo of himself holding a syringe filled with fluid. "The last two games this Bakers Cyst was tough to play with. Just drained it. Whoa!" World Peace underwent surgery on March 28 after a left knee injury (torn meniscus). He was originally expected to be out for a minimum of six weeks but returned just 12 days later.

SAN ANTONIO - - Maybe Kobe Bryant should go back to tweeting during games. Maybe Metta World Peace should try harder to get in touch with the Dalai Lama. Maybe the Lakers' injuries will finally recede, because they're quickly running out of backcourt players. The sky continued to fall amid too many maybes Wednesday, the Lakers losing to the San Antonio Spurs, 102-91, in Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference series. BOX SCORE: Spurs 102, Lakers 91 Then they lined up in the trainer's room, seemingly one by one. Steve Blake will get an ultrasound exam Thursday after sustaining a strained right hamstring on a fourth-quarter drive.

SAN ANTONIO - He was the last one to climb off the trainer's table, trudging through the musty high school gym Monday with the pained look of a kid who had just left detention. "It's not great," Steve Nash said, shaking his head. "It's not going to be great. " He was standing near a statue of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the most famous alumnus of the Texas Military Institute, where the Lakers were practicing between games of their first-round playoff series with the San Antonio Spurs.

Dodgers' optimists everywhere, how do you like Sunday's challenge? How does anyone hear the Chad Billingsley news and not think the absolute worst? Visualize surgery and his losing the season, and parts of next season? The sword of Damocles, indeed. Everyone knew from the instant Billingsley elected to try to rehab his elbow instead of undergoing Tommy John surgery that this was a possibility. The pessimists called it inevitable. Billingsley made it through two starts before the elbow barked again.

With Albert Pujols trying to play despite an injury to his left foot, the Angels are prepared for him to be limited to designated hitter for an extended period of time. "I'm dying," Pujols said Sunday. "It's hurting real bad. " Pujols started at DH for the fourth consecutive game Sunday, and he now has started more games at DH than at first base. He is suffering from plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the tissue that stretches across the bottom of the foot. The most effective treatment can be to stay off the foot -- in the case of a baseball player, a stint on the disabled list to let the inflammation subside.

With Albert Pujols playing despite an injury to his left foot, the Angels are prepared for him to be limited to designated hitter for an extended period. "I'm dying," Pujols said Sunday. "It's hurting real bad. " Pujols started at DH for the fourth consecutive game, and has started more games at DH than at first base. He is suffering from plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the tissue that stretches across the bottom of the foot. The most effective treatment can be to stay off the foot - in the case of a baseball player, a stint on the disabled list to let the inflammation subside.

They were damaged goods a year ago, with a new coaching staff coming in. Defensive backs Anthony Jefferson and Brandon Sermons had little opportunity to make an initial impression. Jefferson was still recovering from a back surgery that forced him to sit out the 2011 season. Sermons had seen limited duty after suffering a broken leg that wiped his 2010 season. Both are making an impression this spring. "They are putting themselves in position to show who they were coming out of high school," said secondary coach Demetrice Martin . "Both of them were pretty highly recruited guys.

On Friday, Kobe Bryant got a visit from Lakers Vice President Jim Buss, General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Coach Mike D'Antoni. Bryant is still on crutches, recovering from April 13 surgery to repair a torn left Achilles' tendon. The Lakers All-Star guard uploaded a picture to his Instagram account with the caption, "Got a few more visitors today ... Jimmy B, Mitch K and Mike D.  We talked about the season, next season and more importantly about the strategy for this upcoming series #lakerfam #amnestywho?