The ATL Thread: HBD Swamps Edition

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Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez was furious after being hit with a fragment of a bat that Chris Johnson shattered during his latest meltdown on Friday night. But after having a chance to calm down and evaluate how Johnson handled the embarrassing consequences, Gonzalez put his third baseman back in the lineup for Saturday afternoon's game against the Rockies.

"I think what he had to go through yesterday, stand up and talk [to the media] and stand up and talk to his teammates, I think that's good enough," Gonzalez said. "That's punishment enough. That's a humbling experience with a Major League baseball player. All the sudden, you get taken out of game and then you've got to explain yourself."

Johnson's humbling experience came after he struck out in Friday's second inning and then chose to release his anger with a violent outburst below the dugout. The fragments of a bat he shattered traveled up the dugout stairs and hit both Gonzalez and Gerald Laird in the leg.

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Johnson did not play in last year's regular-season finale because the night before he threw a helmet in the dugout that hit first-base coach Terry Pendleton. He was also benched two games in April after another post at-bat eruption led him to overturn various items in the dugout.

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