Manager Bobby Cox can still feel the bone bruise he sustained when he was a player, and that was more than 40 years ago. In that light, third baseman Chipper Jones sitting out another day with the bone bruise of his left thumb isn't so bad.
Jones isn't thinking about the disabled list, but he isn't quite day-to-day, either. He just knows that he keeps getting jammed, and he figures sitting out is the only way to make sure his hand can get over the bruise. A thumb guard does no good; in fact, he thinks wearing it for Tuesday's game made the thumb worse, digging into the muscle and turning the thumb black and blue.
"I'll sit out until I get better," Jones said. "I have to get back to where I can get jammed and not have it affect me throughout the game."
It's not as though Jones has never jammed his thumbs. Usually it happens early in spring training, when he can take a few days off and get rid of it. But this injury happened at the end of spring training, and because it did, it has lingered.
No X-rays have been taken because all the thumb-wiggling tests indicate there is no structural damage. But Jones can't grip a bat, so playing is out for the immediate future.
MARLINS 6, BRAVES 2: Kelly Johnson lost a potential double-play ball in the sun, so while Kenshin Kawakami went 2-for-2 at the plate, gave up only five hits and struck out seven in six innings, he still lost. One of those hits was a three-run homer, and the Braves could not convert their hits into runs. The loss gave the Marlins their first three-game series sweep at Atlanta.
