Chipper's Recovery Puts Club in Bind

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St. Louis -- The Braves made their phone call to Richmond Thursday. Turned out to be a wrong number.

The club recalled third baseman Wes Helms from its Class AAA affiliate, only to find the regular third baseman actually wasn't really hurt. Chipper Jones, who trudged off the field in Houston the night before with what was described a muscle pull in the right rib cage, found he could swing without pain during batting practice Thursday.

"I don't know how to explain it," said trainer Dave Pursley, who said Jones' only treatment had been ice. "I won't try."

This was less amusing to manager Bobby Cox. After the team placed outfielder Danny Bautista on the 15-day disabled list with a slight tear of the medial colateral ligament in his right knee to call up Helms, the club finds itself one outfielder short and has one second baseman (Keith Lockhart) with a stubborn right hamstring strain. But it is fully equipped with two healthy third basemen.

"My plans were that Chipper wasn't going to be available for a while," said Cox. "I was going to call (Helms) up anyway to give Chipper a breather here and there. He's going to play some."

Asked to explain Jones' recovery, Cox suggested, "Maybe it was gas?"

Jones arrived early at Busch Stadium, not knowing what to expect.

"I did a little soft toss and I didn't feel that pain that I was feeling yesterday," he said. "I don't know what it was. Maybe it was just a bad day. But it certainly feels a lot better."

Helms was a late arrival at the park, his flight landing right at gametime. In his fifth year with the organization, he was hitting .275 in his first full AAA season with 13 homers and 75 RBI.

Bautista's diagnosis came after a Wednesday MRI detected what was apparently an old injury that flared up after his collision with Los Angeles' Tom Prince Monday. Pursley said two weeks off should be enough to get him back on the field, though his "loose" knee joint will not be right without surgery.

By Thomas Stinson, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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