NEW YORK --- Chipper Jones' sore right elbow kept him out of the lineup for the Braves' series opener against the Mets on Monday night. He was available to pinch-hit and hoped to be back at third base tonight.
"I've got some fluid in my elbow," said Jones, who hyperextended it on consecutive swings Sunday at Philadelphia. "It's still keeping me from being able to throw." Martin Prado replaced him at third base and also hit third in the lineup.
Jones received treatment for the elbow three times Monday and hoped that the fluid buildup would subside before tonight's second game in the series at Citi Field.
The Braves had won four of five games before Monday, while the Mets had a seven-game winning streak that vaulted them to first place in the NL East.
"Hopefully tomorrow it'll be better and I'll be able to get extension to make a throw," said Jones, who couldn't straighten the arm Monday. "If it's the same tomorrow, I might get a shot. But I want that to be a last resort."
If he gets a cortisone injection, he might miss at least two more games. The Braves were 1-5 in the six starts he missed before Monday, including five that he missed for a bruised thumb.
Manager Bobby Cox gave Jones a day off just to rest Thursday at Florida and the Braves won, 4-2, the first time this season they didn't lose when he was out of the lineup.
Jones has played fewer than 140 games for five consecutive seasons. With 25 games played in 31 team games before Monday, he was on pace to play 130.
"It is what it is," said Jones, 37, who added that by missing a game here or a few there when he's sore, he hoped to avoid any serious injuries and extended absences. "I'm getting old. Stuff hurts more."
He won his first batting title last season, hitting a major league-best .364 with 22 home runs and 75 RBIs in 128 games. Jones and the Braves agreed to a three-year, $42 million contract extension in March that runs through 2012, with a vesting option for 2013.
Jones said he's had right-elbow tendinitis all season.
Glavine optimistic
Tom Glavine is scheduled to throw two or three simulated innings Wednesday. If all goes well there, the 43-year-old believes he would need two minor-league rehab starts and perhaps join the Braves' rotation the last week of May.
"I guess it's possible I could only need one rehab start, but it's probably not likely," said Glavine, who had an encouraging bullpen session Friday in Philadelphia, his second since pain in his surgically repaired shoulder forced him out of a minor-league rehab start April 12.
"It'd probably make more sense to have two rehab starts, maybe [come off the disabled list] around [the May 25-27 series at] San Francisco," said Baseball's only nonretired 300-game winner.
Glavine has been on the DL all season. He had elbow and shoulder surgeries in August, then developed shoulder pain while batting in what was to have been his final minor league rehab start.
He said Monday that while there was a chance he wouldn't be able to pitch again, he was "75 to 85 percent confident" he would.
