GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NL: ATLANTA (41-38) at FLORIDA (37-42)

NL: ATLANTA at FLORIDA

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ATLANTA (12) AT FLORIDA (3) - EVENT LOG
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Atlanta Starting Lineups -- W Harris LF, E Renteria SS, C Jones 3B, A Jones CF,
B McCann C, J Francoeur RF, K Johnson 2B, S Thorman 1B, C James LHP.

Florida Starting Lineups -- H Ramirez SS, D Uggla 2B, M Cabrera 3B, M Jacobs 1B,
J Willingham LF, M Olivo C, B Carroll RF, A Amezaga CF, J Johnson RHP.

Umpires -- Wally Bell (HP), Bill Welke (1B), Laz Diaz (2B), John Hirschbeck (3B).

Gametime Weather: 82 degrees, Cloudy, wind right to left at 10 mph.


ATLANTA 1ST: W Harris popped out to shortstop. E Renteria singled to
center. C Jones walked, E Renteria to second. A Jones struck out swinging.
B McCann struck out looking. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 0, FLORIDA 0.

FLORIDA 1ST: H Ramirez walked. H Ramirez stole second. D Uggla grounded
out to shortstop, H Ramirez to third. M Cabrera struck out swinging. M Jacobs
lined out to second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 0, FLORIDA 0.

ATLANTA 2ND: J Francoeur singled to center. K Johnson singled to right,
J Francoeur to second. S Thorman struck out swinging. C James sacrificed to
third, J Francoeur to third, K Johnson to second. W Harris walked. E Renteria
lined out to right. (0 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 0, FLORIDA 0.

FLORIDA 2ND: J Willingham grounded out to third. M Olivo fouled out to
first. B Carroll struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 0,
FLORIDA 0.

ATLANTA 3RD: C Jones walked. A Jones singled to left, C Jones to second.
B McCann grounded out to first, C Jones to third, A Jones to second.
J Francoeur hit sacrifice fly to center, C Jones scored, A Jones to third.
K Johnson singled to left, A Jones scored. S Thorman struck out swinging.
(2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 2, FLORIDA 0.

FLORIDA 3RD: A Amezaga reached on bunt single to second. J Johnson
sacrificed to third, A Amezaga to second. H Ramirez walked. D Uggla lined out
to third. M Cabrera fouled out to first. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 2,
FLORIDA 0.

ATLANTA 4TH: C James grounded out to pitcher. W Harris struck out
swinging. E Renteria walked. E Renteria stole second. C Jones intentionally
walked. A Jones struck out looking. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 2,
FLORIDA 0.

FLORIDA 4TH: M Jacobs walked. J Willingham singled to left, M Jacobs to
third. M Olivo struck out swinging. B Carroll struck out looking. A Amezaga
grounded out to pitcher. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 2, FLORIDA 0.

ATLANTA 5TH: W Obermueller relieved J Johnson. B McCann struck out
swinging. J Francoeur reached on infield single to third. K Johnson singled
to right, J Francoeur to third. S Thorman doubled to right, J Francoeur and
K Johnson scored. C James doubled to deep right center, S Thorman scored.
W Harris walked. E Renteria struck out swinging. C Jones singled to center,
C James scored, W Harris to second. W Harris to third, C Jones to second on wild
pitch by W Obermueller. A Jones walked. B McCann struck out swinging. (4 Runs,
5 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 6, FLORIDA 0.

FLORIDA 5TH: W Obermueller lined out to first. H Ramirez flied out to
center. D Uggla flied out to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 6,
FLORIDA 0.

ATLANTA 6TH: J Francoeur singled to center. K Johnson walked, J Francoeur
to second. S Thorman flied out to center, J Francoeur scored, K Johnson to
second on error by second baseman D Uggla. C James singled to shallow right,
K Johnson to third. R Pinto relieved W Obermueller. M Diaz hit for W Harris.
M Diaz hit sacrifice fly to center, K Johnson scored. E Renteria grounded out to
second. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 1 Error) ATLANTA 8, FLORIDA 0.

FLORIDA 6TH: M Diaz in left field. M Cabrera lined out to third. M Jacobs
homered to right. J Willingham popped out to second. M Olivo flied out to
center. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 8, FLORIDA 1.

ATLANTA 7TH: C Jones grounded out to third. A Jones struck out swinging.
B McCann struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 8, FLORIDA 1.

FLORIDA 7TH: B Carroll struck out swinging. A Amezaga grounded out to
shortstop. T Linden hit for R Pinto. T Linden singled to center. T Yates
relieved C James. H Ramirez singled to right, T Linden to second. D Uggla
grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, H Ramirez out at second. (0 Runs,
2 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 8, FLORIDA 1.

ATLANTA 8TH: T Tankersley relieved R Pinto. J Francoeur doubled to deep
left center. K Johnson walked. S Thorman hit by pitch, J Francoeur to third,
K Johnson to second. T Yates struck out swinging. M Diaz hit sacrifice fly to
right, J Francoeur scored, K Johnson to third. E Renteria walked, S Thorman to
second. Y Escobar ran for E Renteria. C Jones tripled to deep right,
K Johnson, S Thorman and Y Escobar scored. C Woodward ran for C Jones. A Jones
flied out to left. (4 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 12, FLORIDA 1.

FLORIDA 8TH: Y Escobar at shortstop. C Woodward at third base. M Cabrera
fouled out to right. M Jacobs grounded out to second. J Willingham flied out
to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 12, FLORIDA 1.

ATLANTA 9TH: J Hermida in right field. J Wood relieved T Tankersley.
B Carroll in center field. A Amezaga at third base. J Borchard in left field.
B McCann flied out to left. J Francoeur flied out to center. K Johnson popped
out to third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) ATLANTA 12, FLORIDA 1.

FLORIDA 9TH: W Ledezma relieved T Yates. M Olivo flied out to right.
B Carroll singled to center. A Amezaga flied out to center. J Wood singled to
left, B Carroll to third. H Ramirez doubled to deep right center, B Carroll
and J Wood scored. D Uggla grounded out to shortstop. (2 Runs, 3 Hits,
0 Errors) ATLANTA 12, FLORIDA 3.</div>

 

James, Braves crush Marlins

<h3>ATLANTA 12, FLORIDA 3</h3>MIAMI (Ticker) -- Chuck James kept the Florida Marlins' bats incheck and helped out with some timely hitting to lift theAtlanta Braves to their fourth straight victory.

James pitched effectively into the seventh inning and hit an RBIdouble to lead the Braves to a 12-3 victory over the Marlins inthe opener of a three-game series on Friday.

Chipper Jones fueled the Braves' offense, which scored 13 runsin their last game against the Washington Nationals, with twohits and four RBI.

James (7-7) allowed just one run and four hits with fivestrikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. His biggest mistake came in thesixth inning when Mike Jacobs crushed a solo home run to rightwhich ended his bid for a shutout and cut the Braves' advantageto 8-1.

"He did everything he could to win tonight," Braves managerBobby Cox said. "He pitched beautifully, he threw great. Hehad a great changeup. The ball that got hit out was a slider wewanted him to throw because he seldom throws it."

The 25-year-old James also helped when he was in the batters'box. James' first extra-base hit of the season, a double toright, plated Scott Thorman and gave Atlanta a 5-0 lead in thefifth inning.

He later scored and added a single in his next at-bat in thesixth.

"I got lucky and ran into a few," James joked. "That's alwaysnice - to get a little dirty when I'm playing. I don't get todo that too much unless I go out there and throw the dirt onmyself."

Jones, who also walked three times, had an RBI single in thefifth and a three-run triple in the eighth. The switch-hitternow has five hits and eight RBI in the last two games.

"I'd like to think it was just a matter of time," Jones said."I'm not going to hit .170 with runners in scoring position thewhole season. I'm getting a whole lot of opportunities over thelast couple of games, guys in front of me are getting on baseand swinging the bat well, and I'm getting some chances."

Atlanta has scored 35 runs on its current four-game winningstreak after plating just one in its previous five contests.

"Everything's falling in for us, plus the hard ones," Cox said."It goes around like that. We played a great game. We did alot of stuff good."

Jeff Francoeur added four hits and scored three runs forAtlanta, which had lost five in a row before the current streak.

"He had four didn't he?" Cox asked. "Seven in two games. He'sgoing to get his hits. He makes contact really good."

The Braves pounded out 14 hits, and things could have been muchworse as they stranded 13 runners on base.

"The run support is amazing," James said. "That helped me a lot(tonight). I was kind of in a groove and then I felt itslipping a little bit. Once you get that kind of run support itmakes it a lot easier, takes a lot of stress off."

The Braves took an early lead off Marlins starter Josh Johnson(0-3) when Francoeur's sacrifice fly plated Jones. KellyJohnson followed with an RBI single to take a 2-0 advantage inthe third inning.

Johnson was relieved after hurling 94 pitches in just fourinnings. The 23-year-old righthander yielded two runs, fivehits and five walks with six strikeouts in his longest outing ofthe season.

"After the first inning, I threw about 20 pitches which is whatI didn't want to do," Johnson said. "I got out of that inning,felt good and thought I could take off from there but did thesame thing I did in the first inning - throw a lot of pitches."

Johnson had been on the shelf until June 18 due to an injury tohis ulnar nerve in his throwing elbow. Since returning, he haslooked nothing like the pitcher who led the National League inERA last year until late summer.

"We have to be patient with him," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalezsaid. "We have to run him back out there, his health is fine.It's a disservice and injustice to him to think that after ninemonths of him not pitching in the major leagues to go back outand be back in his old form."

The Marlins had lost his last two starts by a combined score of21-7, and he did not make it through four innings in either.

Florida's defense didn't help as well as an error by Dan Ugglaallowed a run to score and a ball that he misplayed, and wasoriginally scored an error, let another one in.

Things got so bad for Florida that utility outfielder Jason Woodpitched a perfect ninth, becoming the third Marlins positionplayer in history to pitch joining John Mabry (Oct. 5, 2001 atAtlanta) and John Cangelosi (July 21, 1997 against San Diego).