On a day in which Chipper Jones and Tim Hudson were placed on the disabled list, struggling pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes was optioned to Class AAA Richmond and the Braves added pitcher Charlie Morton and catcher Clint Sammons from Richmond. They also activated pitcher Jeff Bennett from the DL.

While the possible severity of Hudson's ulnar-collateral ligament injury was surprising, placing Jones on the 15-day DL for the first time this season wasn't. The major-league hitting leader's left hamstring hadn't improved since he pulled it Wednesday and he'll probably need most of two weeks to recover anyway.

The Braves wanted to DL a position player to open a spot for Sammons, since they needed another catcher for a few days while Brian McCann recovers from the concussion sustained Sunday in a home-plate collision with the Phillies' Shane Victorino.

Jorge Campillo will replace Hudson for Tuesday's game, Jair Jurrjens is scheduled to start Wednesday and Mike Hampton is set for his second start in Thursday's series finale. Braves manager Bobby Cox said he didn't know who'd pitch Friday's series opener against Milwaukee.

Jones rues inability to help vs. Phillies

The Braves blew six- and five-run leads in weekend defeats at Philadelphia, and Jones regretted that he wasn't on the field to do anything about it.

"It's disappointing because I felt I could've helped us this last series, maybe pushed us over the top in a game we lost," said Jones, who's still hitting .369, but was 9-for-39 (.231) in his last 12 games while playing with a lingering right quadriceps injury.

"My goal in spring training was to go through the season without anything keeping me out for any extended period of time," he said. "Unfortunately, I've had leg problems last couple of months.

"The team is better off with me on the DL right now, to give Bobby a full deck when he's trying to manage a game. It just makes sense to give itthe full 15 days to heal, and let the quad on the other leg heal."

The Braves played Monday without Jones and McCann, who ranked second and sixth in the NL in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). Mark Kotsay, with four homers and 27 RBIs, hit cleanup Monday.

"It's been that kind of year," Jones said. "We can't sustain the injuries we've sustained to key people and expect to stay competitive, at or near the top of the division. It's impossible, especially when you're replacing guys like myself, Smoltz, Glavine, [Rafael] Soriano and [Peter] Moylan with minor-league guys."

Barring something entirely unexpected, the Braves will miss the postseason for the third consecutive year since their run of 14 consecutive division titles.

"I feel like for the last couple of years, even though we haven't gone to the playoffs, we've been within earshot of the rest of the division," Jones said. "Now, because of the injury situation, because of the trade deadline coming up and all of the rumors floating around here, we're already pointing to next year.

"...We're going to work hard and continue to compete. But there's three teams in front of us in the division. The likelihood of all three of them collapsing is not probable."