Pittsburgh — Chuck James already has gone back and forth between Class AAA Richmond and the majors three times this season and put an awful lot of miles on one unfortunate pair of slacks.

Seems the notoriously carefree left-hander got separated from his suitcase the last time he was sent down to the minors. He decided to make do with the pants he had until reunited with his luggage.

"I don't plan good enough for going up and going down this much," James said Friday, after catching a morning flight from Louisville to Pittsburgh, where he will start Saturday against Pittsburgh in the second game of a four-game series.

A Richmond trainer woke him at 4 a.m. Friday and told him he was booked on the 9 a.m. flight back to the majors.

He likely will take the roster spot of pitcher Buddy Carlyle, who strained his neck in a collision with a San Diego hitter Thursday. Carlyle will probably need a few days before he's ready to pitch.

James sheepishly acknowledged that the brown pants he wore Friday were the same pair he'd worn, well, pretty much for a solid week.

On April 25, he gave his suitcase to an attendant to put on the truck headed for the airport for the last trip. But James, who pitched the night before, got optioned back to Richmond on April 25.

He didn't realize it until after he'd turned over his suitcase. When the bag was finally sent to Richmond, James and the R-Braves were on a road trip.

"I just now got my bag back," he said Friday.

If he pitches the way he did in his most recent Richmond outing — one run, six hits, seven innings on Monday — James probably would get another start Thursday at Philadelphia.

The injury-riddled Braves are running out of starters, so this would be a good time for James (2-1, 7.62 ERA) to assert himself.

He won 11 games each of the past two seasons, but struggled in the second half in 2007 and was diagnosed with a partial rotator-cuff tear in October.

After resting the shoulder all winter and being brought along slowly this spring, he began the season on the DL. The Braves needed him sooner than expected due to injuries, and he got rocked for six runs in three innings of his April 9 season debut at Colorado.

He was sent back to Richmond the next day.

In two subsequent starts for Atlanta, he got stellar run support and two wins. He gave up a run in five innings against the Dodgers April 19, and five hits, four runs and five walks against Florida April 24.

James conceded he still has lingering shoulder soreness after pitching, but said it has not been enough to prevent him from throwing the next day.

He couldn't ask for a better opponent in this return to the majors. In his only two starts against the Pirates, James allowed three hits and no runs in 13 total innings last season.