| | KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Chipper Jones figures his sore right
elbow won't keep him from playing this season.
The NL Most Valuable Player was hurt while lifting weights late
in January, when he heard a pop in the joint.
| |  | |
| Jones |
"It hurt, but I thought after a few days it would go away, but
it didn't," Jones said Sunday, barely a week before the
regular-season opener against the Colorado Rockies.
It turns out that Jones - who hit .319 with 45 home runs, 110
RBI and 25 stolen bases last season, helping the Braves gain their
eighth consecutive postseason appearance before being swept by the New
York Yankees in the World Series -- had a bone spur and chip in the
elbow.
"I didn't get it checked until I got down here because I didn't
think it was that big a deal," Jones said.
Now he knows.
"I have my good days and bad days. I just hope there are more
good days than bad ones," he said.
Team orthopedist Dr. Joe Chandler diagnosed the injury and
indicated that if Jones can play through the pain, surgery can be
put off until the fall.
"Every time I hyperextend a swing, it bites me. Sometimes when
I flip a ball, it reminds me that it's there," he said.
"It hurts me to throw. It hinders me in everything I do -- brushing my teeth, putting on deodorant, combing my hair," said Jones, a three-time All-Star who turns 28 on April 24.
If the surgery had to be done during the season, Jones would
miss about three months.
"So you see my predicament," he said.
"Right now, I think I can fight through it, but I don't know.
If the chip gets caught somewhere and locks up my elbow, I can't
play, period."
"But I'm willing to take that chance, playing the odds that it
doesn't happen and hopefully get through the season and get it
taken care of after the season," he said.
"I think he can get through the season with it, but I know it
hurts him," manager Bobby Cox said.
Jones is hitting .297 with two homers and six RBI this spring
in 15 games.
Jones has aggravated the injury a couple of times during the
spring, taking a day off on occasion. He recently began using
anti-inflammatory pills, which he said are helping.
"They keep the swelling down and seem to be working," he said.
Jones, however, who has a .301 career average in his five
seasons in the majors, admits he will probably need several days
off this season when the elbow flares up.
"I can't imagine playing 160 games with this kind of elbow. I'm
going to need a day off here and there when I have a bad day," he
said. | |
 |
