Rarely Chipper, Jones Can Still Play

NEW YORK -- Chipper Jones had to dive to his right for Omir Santos' sharp grounder Tuesday night, and then Jones threw from his knees to nail Santos at first base.

For a moment, those watching -- and Chipper himself -- could forget that he was playing with a hyperextended right elbow.

And then, after letting go of the ball, he grimaced, and it was clear the elbow still throbs.

This is what Jones, the Braves' 37-year-old star third baseman, has become: a brittle player, but still a great one; someone worth getting on the field as often as possible, which isn't as often as it used to be.

"It's hard," he told FanHouse. "I played through a lot of stuff when I was younger. But you just have that bounce-back factor when you're younger. You don't get it as much once you turn -- I don't know ..."

Thirty-two?

"I was going to say 33."

Which is why since 2004, Jones hasn't been able to play 140 games in a season.

His list of ailments reads like an anatomy textbook. Forgive us if we missed one or two, but over the past five-plus seasons he has missed time with injuries to his right hamstring, left foot, right shoulder, left quadriceps, right ankle, left oblique, right toe, hands, right oblique, back, right quadriceps, left hamstring, right oblique (again), left thumb and now right elbow.

"It is what it is," Jones said. "I'm getting old."

Chipper Jones, old? For some of us, that's hard to comprehend.

From 1997 through 2003, he played in 1,100 games, more than anyone but Jeff Bagwell, Andruw Jones, Rafael Palmeiro and Garret Anderson.

"When guys are young and healthy, you tend to ride them as hard as you can," teammate Tom Glavine said. "At what point does that start to show up?"

For Chipper, it was at age 32.

He has had to accept, grudgingly, his up-and-down health. But he seems not to have adapted. Jones may have grown so used to his durability in his younger days that he hasn't learned how to change his routine to prevent those now-frequent pulled muscles.

When Jones had to sit out Monday because of the sore elbow, he said he wanted to play but could deal with sitting because he had confidence in his replacement, Martin Prado.

Now, Martin Prado -- Wednesday's 12th-inning, game-winning homer nonwithstanding -- is no Chipper Jones. Jones knows that, but he also knows there are times he just cannot play. And not forcing the issue could mean avoiding the DL.

Jones has had to learn, through trial and error, that place between hurt and 100 percent where he can still be a productive player.

"If I can't drive the ball out of the ballpark offensively or if I can't throw the ball across the infield defensively," as he put it, "then I'm hindering our ballclub."

But if he feels good enough to do those things, even if it's not great, then he'll play.

By Wednesday, Jones seemed fine, with two doubles and a fly out that were "probably ... home runs in any other ballpark," as manager Bobby Cox said.

Despite all the injuries, Jones is second only to Albert Pujols in OPS since the start of the 2006 season. The only players more productive at ages 34-36 were Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Tris Speaker.

It's just that Jones can't do it every day.

"I think he's realistic about his age and the amount of games that he's played," Glavine said, "and understanding he's probably not going to play 150 games any more. He may want to, and he may say that he wants to, but I don't think that he or anybody else believes that, No. 1, that he is going to do it, or, quite honestly, that he should do it.

"To me, he's at that stage of his career where he ought to be taking at least one game a week off."

It shows what the Braves think of Jones that they signed him to a three-year extension in March, through 2012, with only small bonuses for playing time.

Jones is still such a fine player, Atlanta can live with the bumps and bruises to get those 130 games a year.

"He is that good," Cox said.

Since 2004, the Braves are 51 games over .500 (332-251) when Jones starts and 19 games under (106-125) when he doesn't. Percentage-wise, that's the difference between a 74-win team and an 88-win team.

"You'd take Chipper Jones at 70 percent in your lineup," Glavine said. "It's much different than not having him in there. Most of the time the opposing pitcher might know that he's banged up a little bit, but you still you know that he's in that lineup and you have to pitch to him and everything revolves around him.

"He means so much to this team when he's in the lineup."