<p>After being tossed from a game for the second straight day on Saturday, Bobby Cox was in no mood to talk about his approach to the all-time record.</p><p>"I don't want to talk about the record," Cox said. "Talk about the game."</p><p>Cox's ejection was his fifth of the season and the 130th of his career, leaving him only one behind John McGraw's record of 131.</p><p>Cox already has the record for most ejections by a manager, since 14 of McGraw's ejections came as a player.</p><p>Cox would have to dramatically alter the tone of his encounters with umpires to avoid matching and passing McGraw's mark, but he was more concerned with his team's two straight losses to the Phillies, including Saturday's 6-4 loss.</p><p>The Braves have lost 9 of 13 games to fall to 12-12 in May.</p><p>"We can't play much better," Cox said. "We've been rallying, we just didn't pull it off the last two nights."</p><p>Cox didn't last the third inning.</p><p>After Kelly Johnson led off the third with a double, Willie Harris hit a grounder over the first base bag that landed near the foul line. First base umpire Ron Kulpa immediately called the ball foul.</p><p>TV replays showed the ball landing just on the foul side of the line, but as Cox pointed to the mark his argument was that the ball had to have been fair when it crossed first base.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, it was fair," Cox said. "We're losing 4-1 at the time. I thought it was big."</p><p>Cox was thrown out of the game soon after he came on the field to argue the call.</p><p>Cox continued to argue for a few minutes before leaving the field to a loud ovation.</p><p>Kulpa also tossed John Smoltz as Smoltz yelled at the umpire from the dugout. Smoltz, who recorded his 200th career win on Thursday night, was not pitching Saturday.</p><p>Smoltz has three career ejections. He said this was the first time he had been thrown out of a game from the dugout.</p><p>"You can go ask him what I said because I didn't say anything to warrant getting thrown out," Smoltz said. "Not one bit. I told him he missed the call. Next thing I know, I'm thrown out. Pretty weak. But maybe he's having a bad day."</p><p>Smoltz said Kulpa appeared to base his ruling on where the ball landed instead of whether it was fair when it passed over the bag.</p><p>"He was waiting to see where the ball hit," Smoltz said.</p><p>"I've known the rules since I was in ... no, I'm not going to say that."</p><p>Smoltz tugged on his ear after being tossed, making a point that he felt Kulpa was paying too much attention to the complaints from the dugout.</p><p>"His ears are really good," Smoltz said.</p><p>Cox was ejected in consecutive games for the first time since May 20-21, 2003 at Cincinnati.</p><p>___</p><p>DEVINE SENT DOWN: Reliever Joey Devine was optioned to Double-A Mississippi to clear a roster spot for Buddy Carlyle, who started Saturday's game.</p><p>Carlyle made his first major league appearance since May 25, 2005 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and his first start since Oct. 2, 1999 for San Diego at Arizona.</p><p>Carlyle was lifted after giving up a leadoff triple to Shane Victorino in the fifth inning. He gave up six hits and five runs with two walks and three strikeouts.</p><p>"I didn't do a very good job of damage control," Carlyle said.</p><p>___</p><p>CHIPPER UPDATE: The Braves hope third baseman Chipper Jones can return to the starting lineup Sunday. Jones has missed three straight games after having a cortisone shot in his sore right thumb.</p><p>Jones came on deck as a pinch-hitter in Friday night's game but never had the chance to hit. He was not used as a pinch-hitter Saturday.</p>
