An otherwise perfect weekend for the Braves was dampened only by major-league hitting leader Chipper Jones' early exit from Sunday's game.

He doesn't expect his sore right quadriceps to keep him out of the lineup long.

"I'm going to try to [play] tomorrow," said the third baseman, who went 2-for-3 and left the game shortly after his fifth-inning double. "But if I wake up sore and it's sore just standing around, how's it going to be playing?"

Jones, hitting .458 with six homers and 18 RBIs in 18 games, strained his quad just over a week ago on a cold night at Colorado. It flared again last weekend in Washington, but he said Sunday was the worst its felt since Colorado.

He woke with tightness in the muscle and couldn't get it to loosen Sunday.

"I just didn't want to take any more chances that I had to," said Jones, who got up slowly after a one-out double and slide in the fifth inning, then came out after the inning. "It knotted up on me standing around.

"The double certainly didn't help. I figured the best thing to do was just shut it down, get some treatment today and tomorrow, and maybe I'll feel better."

He had six hits in the series, including two homers Friday. Jones has a 12-game hitting streak, and has hit .571 with five homers in his past seven games.

"He's questionable for tomorrow, no more than that," manager Bobby Cox said. "It's nothing that's going to keep him out more than that, I don't think."

His third-base replacement, Martin Prado, hit an RBI triple in the eighth inning, after flying out with the bases loaded in the sixth when right fielder Andre Ethier made a spectacular leaping catch going back in the gap.

Tex is warming up

Mark Teixeira told anyone who'd listen that he wasn't worried about his poor spring-training statistics. Then he said he wasn't concerned about his numbers in first two weeks in the regular season.

Now the Braves first baseman is demonstrating why.

Teixeira went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs Sunday, giving him a .381 average with two homers and six RBIs in his past five games.

This after hitting .196 with two homers and six RBIs in his first 13 games.

Here's how he started in his first seasons, all with Texas:

2007: 6-for-75 (.213) with no homers, three RBI in his first 21 games.

2006: 12-for-33 (.364) with no homers, three RBI in his first nine games.

2005: 11-for-53 (.208) with two homers, six RBI in his first 13 games.

2004: 8-for-40 (.200) with two homers in his first 11 games.

2003: 0-for-15 in his first five games.

In that five-year period, he hit .286 with 365 extra-base hits (fifth in the major leagues), 170 homers (ninth in majors) and 555 RBIs (eighth in majors).

"Never any worries about Tex," Jones said. "Not a matter of 'if,' but 'when' with him."

Platoon in left field?

Rookie Gregor Blanco made his third consecutive start in left field Sunday, and Cox acknowledged the possibility of a platoon arrangement with the left-handed hitting Blanco and right-handed hitter Matt Diaz.

"I don't know," Cox said. "Just want to get him in there. Diaz was struggling a bit. [Blanco] deserves a chance."

Blanco went 1-for-2 with a walk against right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, before Diaz entered to face left-hander Joe Beimel in the seventh. The Dodgers made a pitching change and brought in right-hander Scott Procter, who struck out Diaz.

Diaz is hitting .258 with one homer in 62 at-bats, including 6-for-35 (.171) against righties. Blanco is 6-for-15 (.400) overall and 5-for-13 (.384) against righties.