No-decision doesn't sour Sosa's view of day

ST. LOUIS - Jorge Sosa was already in uncharted territory in his early career as a Braves starter. And he wanted more.

Sosa had successfully navigated through seven scoreless innings against one of the tougher lineups in baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals, and he'd gotten out of trouble along the way.

With a 2-0 lead, Sosa, who hadn't even pitched into the seventh in 11 starts with Atlanta, craved just one more inning. He wanted the eighth. He didn't get it, and the Braves' bullpen couldn't hold on in a 5-3 Cardinals' victory.

"Yeah, I wanted to be out there," said Sosa, who's 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA since stepping in to help the injury-riddled rotation and 7-1 overall. "I asked to go back out and they said, 'Don't worry about it, the bullpen's got it.' I said, 'OK.'"

The fact that Sosa could have physically gone another inning was astonishing enough considering he'd pitched in and out of jams throughout much of the early part of the game.

"He made so many quality pitches with runners in scoring position," St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa said of Sosa, who used 87 pitches and struck out five. "I have no problem taking my hat off to him."

Feeling better: A day after sounding anything but optimistic, third baseman Chipper Jones was a little sunnier regarding the shape of his strained right rotator cuff.

"Today is the first day I've seen any improvement," said Jones, who landed on the shoulder awkwardly Tuesday diving for a ground ball. "It's very small, but it is improvement. ... It's cause for optimism."

He said Saturday there wasn't much of a shot of him playing Tuesday and even acted as if the disabled list was a real possibility because he couldn't throw at all. On Sunday, he'd lightened his tone a bit to say that there was a "less than 50 percent chance" he'd play Tuesday against San Francisco, but that there was that chance.

Jones said he'd meet with Braves physician Dr. Joe Chandler sometime after the team arrived home Sunday night from St. Louis. After a conversation with Chandler, Jones said they'll know whether a fourth trip to the DL is necessary.