FanHouse

Chipper Jones left last night's game with the Mets after being hit by a pitch on the shin. The injury isn't thought to be serious, nor is he still suffering any problem with the sore groin that kept him out of action for a game last week.

Some may look at these events and see storm clouds gathering and another, season halting injury on the horizon for Jones. "What a shame," those people would say. "In the midst of a run at .400, the old injury bug crops up and cost's dear old Chipper a shot at history."

Such people would be wrong. An injury, so long as it's serious enough to force him from the lineup but not keep him out long enough to miss qualifying for the batting title, would be a boon to Larry's hopes of wrangling a .400 average. The last two runs at .400 were both helped by limited trips to the plate. George Brett only had 449 at-bats because of injuries in 1980. When the strike hit in 1994, Tony Gwynn had a .394 average in 419 at-bats and his average was more likely to go down than up had the season gone the distance.

David Pinto of Baseball Musings tells us the probability of Jones getting at least enough hits to hit .400 in 422 at bats is .0023. In 585 at bats, it's .000095. Time off, then, isn't something to fear.