Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Jon Garland will be sidelined from four to six weeks with a strained oblique muscle, the National League team said on Thursday.

Garland, who suffered the injury during a pre-season game in Arizona on Wednesday, went 14-12 last season with the San Diego Padres and signed a one-year, $5 million contract in the off-season to join the Dodgers.
He will likely go on the disabled list for the first time in 10 years after earning a reputation for durability coming off his ninth consecutive season of at least 190 innings.
Off-days factored into the early April schedule will ease the sting of his absence since the Dodgers reckoned they would not need a fifth starting pitcher until April 12.
(Source: Reuters)