ATLANTA -- The tough-guy way to say it is Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado's right shoulder must be OK since he returned to defensive duty at third base in Thursday night's 5-3 win over the Braves at SunTrust Park.
But let's face it: Arenado is in pain, and he will be. The pain level, which forced him to leave last Friday's game, is higher when he has to extend his arm on shorter, softer throws than high-velocity ones. He had one of those to open the bottom of the eighth, when he charged Charlie Culberson's slow roller and fired a sidearm strike to first base.
But Arenado has played through worse … well, maybe. The ice and treatment that fans never see are the wages of the contorting defensive plays and big swings. Asked about it, Arenado had difficulty ranking the pain level of his shoulder.

"I don't know," Arenado said before the game. "When I got hit in the hand last year in Miami, that hurt for a little while. That was rough. When I broke my finger in 2014, when I got back, it wasn't … it was hard to deal with. In '15, my back was killing me and I had to go to physical therapy in the offseason.
"It's always different tweaks, different things that are bothering you throughout a whole season. I'm not the only one that goes through this. Everyone goes through this. Every year, when I dive a lot and throw a lot and do different things, you have to deal with the consequences of those things. It's part of the game."
Two of the biggest untruths that sometimes come out of injuries are: a) it can't get worse and b) it'll actually get better with action. It is more true that the body gets used to playing and compensates. And a day off every now and then helps. Arenado's injury flared and worsened during a stretch of 17 days with games.
"It's all about rest," Arenado said. "The good thing is we don't have any more of those 17-20 game streaks in a row. September, there's a pretty decent, long one, but not like the one we just went through. We've got a couple days off coming up, which is good."
It shows in the at-bats
Center fielder Charlie Blackmon didn't start Thursday night after a 7-for-32 slump.
It has worked before. For example, Blackmon didn't start on July 1 and over the next 13 games, he hit .393 with five home runs and posted a 1.131 OPS. He sat on Aug. 6, but it didn't trigger an immediate resurgence.
Rockies manager Bud Black said Blackmon will work on swing fundamentals and film study to correct some of the flaws that have crept into his swing. Blackmon went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts against the Astros' Gerrit Cole, who fanned 12 in Wednesday's 12-1 Rockies loss.
"In a lot of cases, you'll see a day off given to a player maybe not because of one game but a collection of games," Black said. "This is one of those cases with Charlie. It's not one thing. It's a few things that we've seen. And one of the bigger factors is a day off for a player is a really good thing."

Brushing up on Korean
Under MLB rules, when righty Seunghwan Oh enters from the bullpen with his interpreter, Eugene Koo has to veer off the field before reaching the mound or else it counts as an official mound visit (six non-pitching change visits are allowed during nine innings). So if Koo makes it to the mound, a pitching change, which is not charged, becomes a charged change.
Black, who said umpires have told him the rule may be modified after the season, has to communicate signs and situations without help. But he has learned a couple of words.
"I haven't used them on the mound, but two I think are very important," Black said. "Junbi [pronounced JUN-be]. That means, 'Are you ready?' and 'Gaja' [GAH-ja]. 'Let's go.'"