Braves activate Chipper Jones from the DL, but still lose

The Atlanta Braves activated third baseman, Chipper Jones from the disabled list. Jones was originally put on the DL after a nasty collision on May 11th with Pirates' third baseman, Jose Bautista. Jones landed hard on both wrists and his shoulder and was down for some time, but he was able to stay in the game. He didn't play much after that and the Braves were eventually forced to put him on the DL with bruised wrists.

In his place, rookie Yunel Escobar shined and really upped his trade value, if we are to trade, which many people believe we are. Chipper was activated today and was in the lineup against the Minnesota Twins. Bobby Cox decided to let Chipper DH that way he could rest and still keep his bat in the lineup.

Chipper was great as he went 3-4, but sadly the Braves as a whole were not. We lost to Carlos Silva, who just became a father, and the Twins, 6-0 and it will be awfully difficult to avoid the sweep as the Twins will have Johan Santana on the mound tomorrow, but luckily we have Tim Hudson so hopefully he's the good Huddy and we don't get swept.

Chipper Jones placed on the DL; Smoltz's start pushed back

Well today was the deadline for the Atlanta Braves and Chipper Jones on whether or not to put him on the disabled list. And they have decided to go ahead an place him on the 15-day DL and call up Yunel Escobar to replace him. Jones has been diagnosed with a bone bruise near the base of his thumbs, but Jones is more concerned there might be some ligament or other damage, especially since the pain had begun raidiating down into his wrists. X-rays were taken last week and they showed no breaks or other structural damage. This will be Jones' fifth trip to the DL in the past three seasons and it's obviously frustrating him.

"I have absolutely no idea," he said of the next course in treatment. "I don't know what to do. We?re doing everything. I'll try to strengthen the wrist, and hopefully the bone bruises will heal in this down time."

His replacement will be Yunel Escobar, who is more of a shortstop, but has experience at thirdbase. Escobar was hitting .333/.379/.456 with 2 HR, 29 RBI's and 7 stolen bases in 46 games. For his complete statistics, here's his profile page. He is expected to arrive in Chicago in time for tomorrow's game and possibly start at third, this in all likelihood will be his major league debut.

More injury news, John Smoltz scheduled start this Sunday is probably going to be pushed back until Tuesday in which the Braves' have a double-header scheduled against the Florida Marlins. Smoltz's shoulder is still a little sore when he threw this morning after tweaking it on a warmup pitch before the fourth inning last Saturday at Milwaukee. He had previously dislocated his pinky again in that game but he said it didn't bother him when he threw Friday in a bullpen session at Wrigley Field. It looks like Buddy Carlyle will be starting the series finale against the Chicago Cubs this Sunday.

I'm torn with the "Chipper to the DL" thing, I mean Chipper is my favorite player and I never want to see him get hurt, but if he is hurt--and he is--I want him to take as much time as he needs so his season isn't full of injuries, and on another plus side we get to see Escobar play who is most likely one our top "trading pieces". As bad as it sounds, there is just no where for him to play and if he continues his hot hitting, he could fetch us another pitcher.

[Photo of Chipper(1st pic) is from May 11th when he collided with Pirate's third baseman, Jose Bautista, that was when he first injured his wrists.]

Chipper Jones is not a big fan of Bob Davidson.

Chipper Jones had the day off yesterday in the Braves 6-4 win over the Dodgers but he did make a pinch hit appearance in the seventh inning. Davidson made a horrible call, and replays proved it, when he called Chipper out on a check swing. Chipper didn't like the call and let Davidson have it and eventually Bobby Cox made his way up the stairs and before he could finish his long journey(50 feet) he was thrown out for the 128th time of his career, that's three ejections away from the major league lead which is held by John McGraw. After the game, Chipper had some choice words for Davidson, words that will inevitably cost him a fine.

"The second Bobby stepped out of the dugout, [Davidson] was gunning to throw him out," Jones said. "Bob Davidson feels like the thousands of people in the park come to see him. He's always been like that. It's a joke among the players."

"That wasn't what I was upset about," Jones said. "When Bobby came out of the dugout, [Davidson] was just waiting to throw him out before he even heard what he said. It's a shame the cameras have to put [Davidson] on TV for 30 seconds."

Jones didn't confine his critical umpiring review to Davidson. He said home-plate umpire Sam Holbrook missed a call when catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia reached back to tag Andy LaRoche on the helmet

in the fifth inning.

LaRoche was called safe on the slide to tie the score at one.

"How do you miss that?" Jones said. "How does a professional umpire miss that?"

Chipper Jones is in the lineup tonight against Chris Young and the San Diego Padres.