LOS ANGELES -- A day after having to leave a game early due to a right quad contusion, Derek Norris was back in the Padres' lineup for Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Dodgers.
Norris sustained the injury in a first-inning collision with Chase Utley after a grounder pulled the second baseman into the basepath. Norris was later replaced behind the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning by Christian Bethancourt.
Manager Andy Green said Norris was day to day after the game, but he implied that a return Sunday would be more likely than Saturday. Norris said the injury healed well overnight, so the team is giving him a shot as he tries to support young starter Luis Perdomo.
"He regenerates quickly. He took a shot yesterday, and it's just a testament to how tough he is," Green said. "We waited before the lineup was posted to see if he was capable of going. I really think that his veteran presence behind the dish helps Perdomo. The game plan he calls, the way he receives, the way he blocks, I think it will really help settle Perdomo down."
The other piece of fallout from the collision was a runner's interference call with which both Norris and Green still disagree. Green said after the game that Utley initiated the contact after fielding the ball, but he conceded Saturday that it was a difference in interpretation of the rule, not an actual misread of the rule.
"It's a judgement call, so it what it is. They're judgement calls for a reason, they're under judgement and his judgement was that I impeded his path to field a ground ball," Norris said. "It is what it is. We learn, maybe next time I'll do a better job avoiding him I guess. I don't know, I thought I was, but apparently I wasn't."