When Dodgers second baseman Mark Ellis was caught on the wrong end of a hard slide in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals last year, he was rushed to the hospital and had emergency surgery — a decision that might have allowed him to keep his left leg below the knee.

Andre Ethier‘s situation isn’t that dire. But like Ellis, Ethier’s bruised left calf wasn’t improving, even nine days after getting hit with a pitch by the Chicago Cubs’ Pedro Strop on Aug. 4.

“That’s why I went over to the hospital, just to see if there was a clot,” he said. “Kind of the same thing Mark (Ellis) had last year — they were concerned it was something along that line.”

Ethier said that doctors ruled out the worst-case scenarios, including a blood clot, and gave him “something” — presumably medicine of some sort — to treat the symptoms. The 31-year-old outfielder said his calf feels stiff after he’s been sitting for extended stretches, and “the first five, six steps out of bed in the morning aren’t fun.”

The reason why is apparently something of a mystery still.

“It’s not healing properly,” Ethier said.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said Ethier was “throbbing” after the Dodgers beat the New York Mets on Monday night and gave Ethier the entire day off Tuesday. Skip Schumaker took his place in center field and batted fifth.

Ethier appeared to be in good spirits in the clubhouse after Tuesday’s game, and he’s a candidate to play tomorrow in the series finale against the Mets.

“It’s all right,” he said. “We’ll see tomorrow how I feel.”