John Thomson placed on 15-day DL, Matt Childers recalled from Richmond
When it rains, it pours! On the heels of Mike Hampton’s injury (it now appears he’ll miss at least one start) John Thomson went down Monday with a strained flexor tendon in his right middle finger. He doubled over in pain after throwing a 1-0 fastball to Mark Loretta in the fifth inning of the Braves’ 5-3 loss to the Padres. His finger apparently popped so loud that Adam LaRoche heard it over at first base! 
It doesn’t look good. He is back in Atlanta being examined by a hand specialist. Hopefully surgery won’t be necessary but I don’t have a good feeling about this one. 
Horacio Ramirez seemed ready to step into Thomson’s sizable shoes in the 4th (or even 3rd if Hampton’s injury in serious) spot in the rotation before Wednesday afternoon’s horrendous performance. He had allowed only 2 earned runs in 14 innings in his 2 prior starts so let’s hope this was a fluke!
Matt Childers was called up from Triple-A Richmond to fill Thomson’s roster spot and help the Braves’ beleaguered bullpen. He was 2-0 with a 3.26 ERA in 15 games for Richmond this season. Kyle Davies is likely to be called up to start in place of Hampton.
Also on the injury front: Kevin Gryboski was scheduled to make a rehab start for the Single-A Rome Braves today and is eligible to come off the disabled list on Sunday, May 22nd.
