Notes on an Off-Day

According to the AJC notebook, Andruw Jones is thinking about getting a cortisone shot in his left shoulder. Vinny Castilla has already gotten one in his wrist, but it didn't seem to work. If they're both out, at least to start the series against Arizona, the Braves will face the World Champs with that 22-man roster again. If Castilla's wrist doesn't come around, the Braves might have no choice but to disable him. If they do, Freeing Marcus Giles would seem the obvious move, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Jesse Garcia's return instead. Alternatively, if Andruw is still limited they could call up an outfielder, perhaps Bo Porter, who is hitting .297/.383/.420 in Richmond. But I don't think Porter, or any of the R-Braves outfielders, is on the 40-man roster. If it's not Marcus, the player would have to be someone of only borderline utility, like Garcia or maybe Travis Wilson.

Albie Lopez hasn't pitched since July 28. In a couple of days they could disable him, making it retroactive, and only have him unavailable for a short while. He's useless anyway... Chipper Jones was the NL player of the week. Hard to argue; he hit .526 with four homers... The Mets' loss to the Diamondbacks yesterday moves the entire division, except for the Braves, to below .500. The Mets, Marlins, and Expos are all 55-56, eighteen games back. The Braves' magic number is 34, but three teams make that kind of complex. The Phillies are two games behind those three teams.