<p>ATLANTA (AP) _ General manager John Schuerholz said Thursday night that the Atlanta Braves have placed third baseman Chipper Jones on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Sept. 4, so their insurance company will pay a portion of his $13.6 million salary.</p><p>Jones, who hasn't placed since suffering another strain to his left oblique muscle on Sept. 3, wasn't available for comment after Atlanta's 4-1 victory over Philadelphia.</p><p>Schuerholz insisted the 1999 NL MVP could return when early next week.</p><p>"He will not be out for the rest of the year," Schuerholz said. "He'll be eligible to return on Tuesday. If his side heals, we'll be ready to go."</p><p>Before the game, the switch-hitting Jones still feels pain when swinging from the right side of the plate.</p><p>"Whenever I go to really fire down on a baseball, it feels pretty bad," Jones said. "Left-handed, I feel OK. Of course, I don't swing and miss in batting practice. That's the part that I worry about the most."</p><p>With a .318 average, 23 homers and 79 RBIs, Jones earlier this year became just the fourth player in history _ joining Hall of Fame inductees Eddie Mathews, Billy Williams and Frank Robinson _ to hit at least 20 homers in each of his first 12 seasons.</p><p>The Braves begin a seven-game trip to Washington and Colorado on Monday.</p><p>"We still are playing teams who are in the race," Jones said. "Houston, that last series, may still be in it. We're going to (honor) the integrity of the game. We're going to go out there and field our best team and play hard. If I'm able to play, I'll play."</p><p>A third strain to the oblique, however, would end Jones' season.</p><p>"If I do it again, then I'll shut down," he said. "But if I'm able to go out there and throw the ball across the infield, hit from both sides of the plate, I'll play."</p><p>___</p><p>JOHNSON, BOYER IMPROVING:@ Kelly Johnson, out all year with an elbow injury, has been cleared to start throwing.</p><p>As a rookie last season, Johnson played 79 games in the outfield, but manager Bobby Cox might use the 24-year-old in the infield next season.</p><p>"That's where he's played all his life," Cox said of Johnson, who was a supplemental draft pick between the first and second rounds in 2000. ...</p><p>Right-handed reliever Blaine Boyer, who's recovering from shoulder surgery in June, plans to report soon to the team's instructional league.</p><p>___</p><p>HAMPTON CHANGES ITINERARY:@ After missing the entire season to undergo Tommy John surgery, starting pitcher Mike Hampton had planned to report to the instructional league this month, but John Smoltz convinced him such a trip isn't necessary.</p><p>Hampton said he threw off the mound Thursday "at about 85 percent" and felt pretty good. The left-hander usually stops throwing entirely when the season ends. In early January, he begins a light throwing regimen to prepare for the start of spring training.</p><p>Smoltz, who has battled elbow tendinitis and recovered from surgeries several times since 1997, promised Hampton he won't forget how to pitch.</p><p>WORTH NOTING:@ Cox has yet to decide which right-hander, Tim Hudson or Kyle Davies, will pitch Sunday opposite Florida's Ricky Nolasco. ... Oscar Villarreal has benefited from a change-up splitter, Cox said, that pitching coach Roger McDowell recently taught him.</p>
