Grocery Errand Trips Up Barmes

Clint Barmes went out to the grocery store and came home with a spot on the disabled list.

The Colorado rookie shortstop is expected to sit out at least three months after breaking his left collarbone while carrying groceries up the stairs in his apartment building after a game Sunday night.

“Obviously, accidents happen,” said Barmes, a shortstop who is leading National League rookies in most offensive categories. “It’s very unfortunate for this to happen the way it did.”

Barmes said he was returning home with a bag of groceries cradled in his left arm and a sweat shirt in his right hand. He got tired of waiting for the elevator and decided to take the stairs to his fourth-floor apartment.

“I figured, I’m an athlete, I can walk up the stairs, it’s not that big a deal,” Barmes said.

Barmes said that when he felt himself slipping, he dropped the sweat shirt and tried to grab the railing. Next thing he knew, he had landed directly on his shoulder.

Once in his apartment, he said it didn’t feel too bad, but he moved it around, felt some cracking and knew something was wrong.

“It hit hard enough, I guess,” he said. “It hit hard enough to make it hurt for about three months.”

Barmes hovered around .400 and led the major leagues in batting average for about the first six weeks of the season.

After a mild slump, he was still leading NL rookies in batting (.329), runs (40), hits (74), doubles (16), home runs (eight) and runs batted in (34).

The Rockies also lost catcher Todd Greene, who injured his hamstring rounding third base Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds. Greene was put on the 15-day disabled list and replaced by triple-A catcher Danny Ardoin.

Barmes was put on the 60-day disabled list, and his spot on the roster was taken by infielder Tim Olson, also from triple-A Colorado Springs.

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The Atlanta Braves put third baseman Chipper Jones on the 15-day disabled list and aren’t sure how long their team leader will be out. Jones left Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh when he reinjured his left foot. He was examined by Joe Chandler, the team orthopedist, on Monday and was scheduled to see a foot specialist and have an MRI exam today.

The Braves called up third baseman Andy Marte from triple-A Richmond.

Jones collapsed in the batter’s box in the eighth inning and needed help leaving the field Sunday.

“It was a sharp, shooting pain and it didn’t stop,” Jones said Monday.

Jones has been playing with pain in the foot since April 24, when he was hurt while running the bases.

He was diagnosed with a bone bruise and didn’t start the next seven games.

Even after his return, Jones said the pain continued.

“I knew deep down it wasn’t a bone bruise,” said Jones, who initially described the pain as feeling as if he had a golf ball in his shoe.

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Houston Astro first baseman Jeff Bagwell will have surgery on his arthritic right shoulder today and may be out for the rest of the season.

The rehabilitation is expected to last three months, putting his return this year in doubt.

“There’s a possibility if everything goes right,” Bagwell said.

“But to go ahead to try to push myself and hurt myself again, then I’m not going to do it. We’ve got to figure out where we are in September, where I’m at, then we’ll make the decision.”

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Outfielder Roger Cedeno, who has a minor hamstring strain, was put on the 15-day disabled list by the St. Louis Cardinals.

The team purchased the contract of outfielder Skip Schumaker from triple-A Memphis.

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Tampa Bay pitcher Lance Carter’s suspension for a beanball battle with Boston in April was reduced from five games to three.

Carter appealed the penalty, and it was cut by John McHale, executive vice president of administration for Major League Baseball.

Carter’s suspension will start tonight when the Devil Rays visit Cincinnati.