Yasiel Puig’s absence puzzles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly.

Yasiel Puig

Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig has a .256 batting average, 11 home runs and 38 RBIs in 77 games this season. (Sarah Reingewirtz/Staff photographer)

PHOENIX — Why isn’t Yasiel Puig at Chase Field?

Good question.

“I expected him to be here, honestly,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

Puig is rehabbing a strained right hamstring at Camelback Ranch in nearby Glendale. He hasn’t played since Aug. 27.

While the team hasn’t reported any setbacks in Puig’s rehab, “he’s not working out on the field; he’s working out in water and the Alter-G.”

As baseball activities go, Puig isn’t doing any less than pitcher Brandon McCarthy, for one, who’s out for the season following Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. But McCarthy is with his teammates in the clubhouse and the dugout during games.

Puig, who’s rehabbing half an hour away, is not.

“Everybody’s invited,” Mattingly said. “All I’m saying is he’s welcome.”

Mattingly said that Puig will return to Los Angeles with the team when it flies home tomorrow night.

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About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.