Laird doesn’t start but feels fine

Braves catcher Gerald Laird was available to play a day after he left a game at Colorado after taking a bat to the face on Corey Dickerson’s backswing.

Laird fell face first in the dirt Thursday and had to be helped off the field by Braves head trainer Jeff Porter, but later passed a concussion test. Evan Gattis was in the lineup at catcher Friday night against the Angels, but Laird told manager Fredi Gonzalez he was ready for duty if needed.

“I’ve gotten hit in the chin a few times before, but not that good,” Laird said. “It hit the mask first, thank God, and it took off the mask and kind of hit me in the jaw. It’s a little bruised and a little sore, but other than that, I feel fine.”

Gonzalez said Laird was set to visit with doctors again later Friday, but he believes the Braves “dodged a bullet” because Laird didn’t suffer a concussion or wouldn’t oth- erwise need to go on the disabled list. Utility man Ryan Doumit has started two games at catcher this season.

Laird took a foul ball to the mask two pitches before getting hit with Dickerson’s bat. He said those type of plays illustrate why the focus on catcher injuries on home-plate collisions is misguided.

“We are all worried about the home-plate play (with a player) running over the catcher, when that happens once or twice a year to a catcher,” he said. “This kind of stuff happens all the time. Sometimes the ball coming off the bat, it’s going to get you good, especially one on the chin.

“Basically it’s one of those plays where I called a slider down inside on a lefty, and you’ve got to get down in there (closer to the batter). It’s just part of the game. I’m just glad I’m good to go the next day and there’s no DL stint.”

Laird added that he’s not considering changing to the hockey-style masks that offer more protec- tion than standard masks. He said he put on a hockey-style mask before but didn’t like the feel.

Laird said the trade-off for the extra protection provided by hockey-style masks is that they don’t absorb as much impact from blows as the oldschool masks.

“It’s one of those things where I’m not going to change (masks) because of one little thing,” he said. “When you become a catcher, it’s one of those things you sign up for.”

La Stella won’t bat second: Gonzalez acknowledged Friday that he’s thought about moving hot-hitting rookie second baseman Tommy La Stella up to the second spot in the Braves’ batting order. But he’s hesitant to do so because it would mean left-handers hitting first, second and third, with leadoff man Jason Heyward, followed by La Stella and Freddie Freeman.

Gonzalez doesn’t want to move Heyward or Freeman, who have hit in those spots all season.

“It’s a tough fit,” Gon- zalez said. “Not that I haven’t thought about it, but it’s a tough fit because of those three lefthanders. He’s doing fine down there in the seventh hole.”

La Stella was hitting .378 in his first 13 major league games entering the weekend series against the Angels, including seven multihit games. Righthanded hitting B.J. Upton remained in the No. 2 hole Friday night. Upton is hitting .210.

FIFA fever: The World Cup match between the Netherlands and Spain was playing on televisions in the Braves’ clubhouse, and shortstop Andrelton Simmons was the most interested observer.

Simmons is a native of Curacao, which is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

He twice celebrated scores by the Nether- lands by running through the clubhouse shouting “Gooooal!”

The Netherlands defeated Spain 5-1 in a group-play match.

Braves right-hander Julio Teheran also showed his World Cup pride. He had the soccer jersey of his native Colombia displayed prominently in his locker stall.

DAVID ZALUBOWSKI / AP Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez looks away as catcher Gerald Laird is tended to by trainer Jeff Porter after Laird was hit in the face with a bat by the Rockies’ Corey Dickerson in the eighth inning Thursday. He left the game after the play.