Here it is, a gorgeous, quiet Sunday morning, looking forward to seeing what Mike Hampton will do on the mound today in his first spring training start and oh, what’s that.

Chipper Jones is slamming his bat down in the dugout bat rack yelling “stupid” something (couldn’t make it out), before he heads straight up the tunnel.

Afterward, in the clubhouse, when the mood was a little lighter he announced it as his “first tweak of the spring.”

Jones’ right hamstring tightened up on him while hitting right-handed during a turn in the batting cage. He said he tried to get in there and see if it was any better left-handed and it wasn’t. So he immediately shut it down.

But he said it should be only a couple days. And the fact that he came out of the training room and talked about it should tell you something. It’s not so bad.

When asked if he was concerned, Jones said “No,” right away, interrupting the question. ”You’re going to do it down here from time to time. Caught it early enough, it shouldn’t be a big deal.”

He said he first felt a little soreness while taking infield. He didn’t pay much attention to it, then it balled up when he was hitting.

“I felt it pretty good right-handed in the cage and then I took two swings to see how it felt left-handed, and I figured I’d stop it,” Jones said. “Just overextended it a little bit.”

For all the injuries he’s had in recent years, he hasn’t had any problems with his hamstring since 2004 when he went on the DL with a hamstring strain, his right one that time too. But this is not even in the same ballpark, he said.

“This is hopefully a couple days,” said Jones, who’s had oblique, feet, and hands injuries more recently. “It’s not near as bad as 04, 04 was scary.”

As soon as Terry Pendleton told Bobby Cox about the injury in the dugout during bp, what came to mind for Cox was that the team had just stretched not that long before. I asked Chipper about that.

“I’m not the most flexible person in the world, so it really doesn’t matter how much I stretch,” Jones said. (Sorry, I can’t see myself calling him Hoss just yet.)

As for the bat slam?

“Any time I’ve got to take myself out, I don’t like feeling this way, but I’ve got to be cautious down here,” Jones said.

“I’m not going to go and blow it out and miss all of spring training. Just take my couple days now and get it behind me.”

Still, it’s not a great development for a guy who’s been struggling to repair his image as the guy who’s injury-prone and played only 109, 110 games two and three years ago. He played 137 last year, which was a big improvement even though he missed a couple stretches because of his basepath collision in Pittsburgh.

And here it is only the fourth game of the Grapefruit League season. But then again, happening so early is a good thing. He’s got plenty of time to get ready, regardless.

Personally, I just don’t want anything to mess with his mood. Chipper had been in such a great mood all spring long. You guys know. You’ve chatted with him.

And by the way, did I or did I not tell you something would happen with DOB off the clock this weekend? Let’s hope it stops here. ….And Hampton has a great two innings. Will keep you posted on that, of course.

Beginning to wonder if Kansas- Kansas State had anything to do with DOB wanting this weekend off? Hmmm.

And on to more pleasant topics….How fun would it be to be manager for a day? Marietta plastic surgeon Ted Fabian got to find out on Sunday. By virtue of his winning bid at Cox’s charity event for Paws Because, the homeless pets foundation Cox supports, he got to suit up in full uniform and shadow Cox for the day. Game included.

How much did he pay? Wife Kristin just said “A lot.” As Dr. Fabian (Cox just called him Doc) said: “It’s like the MasterCard commercial. Getting to manage with a future Hall of Famer? Priceless.”

And another tidbit: Omar Infante is headed to Atlanta tomorrow to have the pin taken out of his wrist. He said he was supposed to have the cast off and some kind of splint put on and could begin doing some hand exercises this week. Since my Spanish isn’t great, I’m not 100 percent sure what that’ll mean for what he’s able to do baseball workout wise. I do know that Frank Wren told me yesterday, at worst, they expect him to miss the first week of the season. No more.

Permalink | Comments (287) | Post your comment |

Advertise here »