Miami — Braves fans were accustomed to winning division titles and going to the postseason for a decade and a half. Now, facing the likelihood of a third consecutive year without an October, many Braves fans are letting their views be known on the blogs and airwaves.

A significant segment of them believe manager Bobby Cox should be held accountable for the team's recent failings, that the venerable Braves skipper should be replaced. But they would be hard-pressed to find that opinion shared by any of those who play for him or compete against him.

Those folks point to injuries as the main reason the four-place Braves are 48-53, six games out of first place and five or more behind three National League East foes: Philadelphia, New York and Florida.

"He's not any different than he's ever been," Chipper Jones said of Cox, 67. "He's just not dealing with the same deck of cards that we had coming out of spring training.

"Other teams have had injuries, but not to the extent that we have. You give Bobby Cox the same deck of cards that we had coming out of spring training for a full 162 games, I guarantee you the standings look a lot different."

A few hours after he said that, Jones left Wednesday's game at Florida with a strained left hamstring, and pitcher Tim Hudson left two innings later with forearm/elbow tightness.

The Braves took two of three from the Marlins, but the injury-stained finale victory seemed fitting for a team that has not had any extended period of success without disruption by injuries.

A team spokesman said Thursday there would be no update on Jones or Hudson until Friday, when the Braves open a big series at Philadelphia.

General manager Frank Wren said in January, a few months before Cox signed a contract extension through 2009, essentially that Cox could manage the Braves as long as he wanted to.

When asked Wednesday if anything had changed in that assessment, Wren said, "Oh, no.

"It's been a challenging year for those guys down on the field, as well as it's been for us up in the office," Wren said, referring to injuries that have forced most veteran Braves pitchers to miss time.

John Smoltz and Peter Moylan had season-ending arm surgeries early, and Tom Glavine and closer Rafael Soriano have missed much of the season with elbow problems. Mike Hampton's been out all year (again), but could (finally) make his debut Saturday or Tuesday.

Jones said he hoped to be back in a "couple of games" and to avoid what would be his first stint on the disabled list of the season, while Hudson said after Wednesday's game that he didn't think he would miss a start.

Hudson is the only member of the Braves' opening-day rotation who has not missed at least one start because of injury. The Braves were considering starting Hampton on Saturday in place of lefty Jo-Jo Reyes, who has lost his past five starts, but the Hudson situation could affect those plans.

If Hudson is forced to miss a start, the Braves could use or Hampton on Tuesday.

Wren on Wednesday said it's been an unusual season, tough for Cox and team officials.

"We had to make more roster moves, and replacements of more guys we expected to be key parts or our team, than we could ever have imagined," he said. "It's been challenging for Bobby because he's had to manage short[-handed] more times than people know."

There are 61 games left in the season, but less than a week before Wren must decide whether the Braves should look more to the future and trade slugger Mark Teixeira and left-handed reliever Will Ohman before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

"It's a daily assessment, not some magic number of games out or anything like that," Wren said. "It's a matter of watching how the team's playing, are we playing good baseball."

A series sweep for Atlanta in Philadelphia might convince the Braves to acquire a hitter to supplement an outfield that has produced just 20 homers, easily the fewest among NL outfields.