<p>Marcus Giles can make playing baseball look easy.</p><p>It's not so easy for Giles to stay healthy enough to play the game.</p><p>Two injuries have limited Giles to only two starts in the Atlanta Braves' first nine games.</p><p>Still less than 100 percent but determined to play, Giles is expected to be back as the Braves' starting second baseman for Friday night's series opener in Philadelphia.</p><p>"To see myself in the lineup two days in the row would be nice," Giles said.</p><p>Giles banged his knee in the Braves' season-opener. He came back after missing only two games and then promptly fouled a ball off his foot, leaving him on crutches the following day.</p><p>There is a frustrating trend of injuries for Giles.</p><p>He missed 52 games last season with a broken clavicle following a collision with center fielder Andruw Jones. In 2003, he suffered a concussion in a collision with Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior and missed three games. He went on the 15-day disabled list early in 2002 _ the first year he opened the season in Atlanta _ with a severely sprained right ankle.</p><p>"You never want to think 'Here we go again,'" Giles said. "You don't want to give in that early."</p><p>Rookie Pete Orr has hit .281 while filling in for Giles, but the veteran's absence has been felt in a year the Braves also have to overcome the offseason departures of outfielders J.D. Drew, Eli Marrero and Charles Thomas.</p><p>Giles is expected to help keep the offense moving with new starting outfielders Brian Jordan and Raul Mondesi. With Giles out most of the time, the Braves were held to four or fewer runs in seven of their first nine games.</p><p>Giles, the normal No. 2 hitter, hit .316 with 101 runs scored in 2003. He hit .311 last year and, despite being limited to 102 games, set a career high with 17 stolen bases.</p><p>Friday night's game at Philadelphia is the first of seven straight road games, and Braves manager Bobby Cox says he believes Giles is ready to return.</p><p>"He'll be close to 100 percent by Friday," Cox said. "He'll play in Philly."</p><p>After jamming his left knee on a late slide into second base in the season opener on April 5, there were immediate concerns that Giles might miss significant time with a serious injury. Giles and the Braves were relieved when tests showed no ligament or cartilage damage, only a deep bone bruise.</p><p>Giles surprised the team by returning only three days after the injury to start in the Braves' home opener against the New York Mets last Friday. Almost immediately, he was hurt again.</p><p>Giles fouled a ball off his left foot in the second inning. He stayed in the game and had two hits, including a double, but was so sore the following day he couldn't walk without the help of crutches. X-rays on the foot were negative.</p><p>Giles revealed Wednesday it was his knee, not his foot, that continued to keep him from starting earlier this week.</p><p>"What I'm still feeling is the bruise in the bone," Giles said. "The good thing is I'm out there for 40 swings and it's just the last five or 10 that hurt."</p><p>Giles returned as a pinch-hitter in Wednesday night's loss to Washington and was encouraged, even though he flied out.</p><p>"I felt fine," he said. "I know I saw only one pitch but it felt good. It's a pitch I should have hit. I just missed it. I saw the ball good, that's the main thing. It looked really clear coming in there."</p><p>Before Wednesday's game, Giles described the ongoing discomfort in the knee as "a giving out feeling, though it's not literally giving out. It's nothing structural."</p><p>But he says he won't be thinking about his knee or his foot Friday.</p><p>"If I'm going to be in the lineup, there are going to be no excuses," he said. "That's the bottom line. I plan on playing the game the way I have my whole life starting Friday."</p>
