GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NL: FLORIDA (65-86) at ATLANTA (78-73)

NL: FLORIDA at ATLANTA

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FLORIDA (1) AT ATLANTA (5) - EVENT LOG
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Florida Starting Lineups -- H Ramirez SS, D Uggla 2B, J Hermida RF, M Cabrera 3B,
J Willingham LF, M Jacobs 1B, C Ross CF, M Treanor C, D Barone RHP.

Atlanta Starting Lineups -- K Johnson 2B, E Renteria SS, C Jones 3B, M Teixeira 1B,
B McCann C, J Francoeur RF, A Jones CF, W Harris LF, C James LHP.

Umpires -- Dan Iassogna (HP), Dale Scott (1B), Ron Kulpa (2B), Adam Dowdy (3B).


Gametime Weather: 77 degrees, Clear, wind in from center at 9 mph.


FLORIDA 1ST: H Ramirez flied out to center. D Uggla flied out to right.
J Hermida struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 0.

ATLANTA 1ST: K Johnson flied out to left. E Renteria homered to center.
C Jones walked. M Teixeira homered to right center, C Jones scored. B McCann
grounded out to second. J Francoeur grounded out to third. (3 Runs, 2 Hits,
0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 3.

FLORIDA 2ND: M Cabrera popped out to second. J Willingham struck out
swinging. M Jacobs flied out to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 0,
ATLANTA 3.

ATLANTA 2ND: A Jones grounded out to third. W Harris grounded out to
second. C James grounded out to shortstop. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 0,
ATLANTA 3.

FLORIDA 3RD: C Ross singled to left. M Treanor flied out to center.
D Barone sacrificed to first, C Ross to second. H Ramirez walked. D Uggla
grounded into fielder's choice to third, C Ross out at third.
(0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 3.

ATLANTA 3RD: K Johnson grounded out to shortstop. E Renteria singled to
center. C Jones fouled out to third. M Teixeira flied out to right. (0 Runs,
1 Hit, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 3.

FLORIDA 4TH: J Hermida struck out looking. M Cabrera grounded out to
shortstop. J Willingham lined out to third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 3.

ATLANTA 4TH: B McCann singled to center. J Francoeur flied out to center.
A Jones flied out to center. W Harris struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit,
0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 3.

FLORIDA 5TH: M Jacobs flied out to right. C Ross grounded out to second.
M Treanor struck out looking. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 3.

ATLANTA 5TH: C James flied out to left. K Johnson singled to left.
E Renteria singled to center, K Johnson to third. C Jones singled to center,
K Johnson scored, E Renteria to second. R Pinto relieved D Barone. M Teixeira
walked, E Renteria to third, C Jones to second. B McCann struck out swinging.
J Francoeur flied out to center. (1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 4.

FLORIDA 6TH: R Andino hit for R Pinto. R Andino struck out swinging.
H Ramirez grounded out to third. D Uggla flied out to left. (0 Runs, 0 Hits,
0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 4.

ATLANTA 6TH: H Garcia relieved R Pinto. A Jones flied out to center.
W Harris flied out to left. C James flied out to left. (0 Runs, 0 Hits,
0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 4.

FLORIDA 7TH: J Hermida grounded out to second. M Cabrera singled to left.
J Willingham fouled out to catcher. M Jacobs struck out swinging. (0 Runs,
1 Hit, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 4.

ATLANTA 7TH: K Johnson struck out looking. E Renteria struck out looking.
C Jones singled to center. M Teixeira grounded out to second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit,
0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 4.

FLORIDA 8TH: P Moylan relieved C James. C Ross grounded out to shortstop.
M Treanor struck out looking. T Linden hit for H Garcia. T Linden struck out
looking. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 4.

ATLANTA 8TH: K Gregg relieved H Garcia. B McCann flied out to left.
J Francoeur struck out swinging. A Jones homered to left. W Harris flied out to
left. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 0, ATLANTA 5.

FLORIDA 9TH: R Soriano relieved P Moylan. H Ramirez struck out swinging.
D Uggla homered to left. J Hermida struck out looking. M Cabrera fouled out to
first. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) FLORIDA 1, ATLANTA 5.</div>

 

James shuts down Marlins as Braves cruise to victory

<h3>ATLANTA 5, FLORIDA 1</h3>By Phil Foley
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Braves refuse to give up on theirseason.


Edgar Renteria continued his assault on the National Leaguebatting crown by homering and collecting three hits and ChuckJames hurled seven spectacular innings to power the Braves to a5-1 victory of the reeling Florida Marlins on Wednesday.

Atlanta (79-73) entered Wednesday on the fringe of the playoffrace, trailing the struggling New York Mets (83-67) by 5 1/2games in the National League East Division and were also 5 1/2games behind the surging San Diego Padres (83-67) in the racefor the wild card.


But the Braves, who swept the Marlins an have won four straight,refuse to fold.


Renteria, who entered this one with an NL third-best .333batting average, got the Braves on the board by smashing his12th homer of the season off Florida starter Daniel Barone (1-3)in the first.


The 33-year old Columbian, who is locked in a battle withteammate Chipper Jones and Colorado's Matt Holliday for thebatting crown, finished with three hits to raise his average to.338.


Renteria's homer was more than enough support for James (11-10).

The southpaw scattered two hits, walked one and struck out sixin seven scoreless frames en route to improving to 3-1 with a1.19 ERA in five career games versus the Marlins.


Florida's only real threat came in the third. Cody Ross leadoff the frame with a broken-bat single to left and advanced tosecond on Barone's sacrifice bunt. But after Hanley Ramirez drewa two-out walk, James retired Dan Uggla on a fielder's choiceto Chipper Jones at third base to end the inning.


The Marlins could not touch James after that. The southpawretired the next 11 men he faced before surrendering a one outsingle to Miguel Cabrera in the seventh. James hurled 63 of 100pitches for strikes to power the Braves to their firstfour-game winning streak since mid-July.


Mark Teixeira padded the Braves by smashing a two-run homer intothe right field stands for his 13th homer as a Brave and 26thof the season in the first.


Atlanta extended the lead to 4-0 in the fifth on Chipper Jones'RBI single. The 35-year old Jones, who entered the night withthe second best average in the National League at .337, had twohits in four at-bats to raise his average to .339.

Andruw Jones capped the Braves' scoring by smashing his 26thhomer into the left-center field bleachers off Florida relieverKevin Gregg in the eighth.


Barone (1-3) allowed four runs and seven hits, walked one andstruck out one in 4 1/3 innings for the Marlins, who were sweptby the Braves for the first time since May 15-18, 2006.

Uggla hit a solo homer in the ninth off Rafael Soriano forFlorida, which has dropped four in a row.

 

James shuts down Marlins as Braves cruise to victory

<h3>ATLANTA 5, FLORIDA 1</h3>By Phil Foley
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Braves refuse to give up on theirseason.


Edgar Renteria continued his quest for the National Leaguebatting crown by homering and collecting three hits and ChuckJames hurled seven spectacular innings to power the Braves to a5-1 victory of the reeling Florida Marlins on Wednesday.

Atlanta (79-73) entered Wednesday on the fringe of the playoffrace, trailing the struggling New York Mets (83-67) by 5 1/2games in the National League East Division and also sitting 51/2 behind the surging San Diego Padres (83-67) in the race forthe wild card.


But the Braves, who swept the Marlins and have won fourstraight, refuse to fold.


"Whenever you've won five of six, you're playing good baseball,"Atlanta's Chipper Jones said. "It's a shame, this kind ofbaseball has been in us all along. It just hasn't shown up."

"We've been playing good baseball," Braves center fielder AndruwJones added. "We've been going out there, having fun andplaying good ball."


Renteria, who entered this one with the third-best average inthe NL at .333, got the Braves on the board by smashing his 12thhomer of the season off Florida starter Daniel Barone (1-3) inthe first inning.


The 33-year-old Columbian, who is locked in a battle withteammate Chipper Jones and Colorado's Matt Holliday for thebatting crown, finished with three hits to raise his average to.338.


"Renteria had an awesome night," Chipper Jones said. "Hopefully,we'll continue to get on base and maybe (the NL East race) willbe nice and tight and will be decided on the last day (of theseason)."


Renteria's homer was more than enough support for James (11-10).

The southpaw scattered two hits, walked one and struck out sixin seven scoreless frames en route to improving to 3-1 with a1.19 ERA in five career games against the Marlins.

"I felt awesome all night," James said. "I went out there anddidn't think about anything mechanical. I didn't worry aboutmechanics and threw."


Florida's only real threat came in the third. Cody Ross led offthe frame with a broken-bat single to left and advanced tosecond on Barone's sacrifice. But after Hanley Ramirez drew atwo-out walk, James got Dan Uggla to hit into a forceout to endthe inning.


The Marlins could not touch James after that, as he retired thenext 11 batters he faced before surrendering a one-out single byMiguel Cabrera in the seventh. James threw 63-of-100 pitchesfor strikes to power the Braves to their first four-game winningstreak since mid-July.


"You look at Chuck's outing, it was great," Chipper Jones said."He's got shutout stuff. When he can keep hitters off-balancewith a live fastball and a good changeup, and then mix in aslider here or there, he can be effective."


"The story is Chuck James," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said."He pitched seven innings. What are you going to do? We'repacking our bags and heading for South Florida to play theMets."


Mark Teixeira padded the Braves' lead in the first by smashing atwo-run homer into the right field stands for his 13th as aBrave and 26th of the season.


Atlanta extended the advantage to 4-0 in the fifth on ChipperJones' RBI single. The 35-year-old, who entered the night withthe second-best average in the NL at .337, had two hits in fourat-bats to raise his average to .339.


Andruw Jones capped the Braves' scoring by smashing his 26thhomer into the left-center field bleachers off Florida relieverKevin Gregg in the eighth.


Barone (1-3) allowed four runs and seven hits, walked one andstruck out one in 4 1/3 innings for the Marlins, who were sweptby the Braves for the first time since May 15-18, 2006.

"I made some bad pitches (in the first)," Barone said. "They'regood hitters. They took advantage. I got a couple of pitchesup and they were able to capitalize on them."


Uggla hit a solo homer in the ninth off Rafael Soriano forFlorida, which has dropped four in a row.