Atlanta Braves 8, Florida Marlins 1

The Braves erased an early 1-0 deficit when Chipper Jones hit a 3 run homer in the 4th inning and they never looked back. Paul Byrd pitched 5 solid innings on 3 days of rest as the Braves cruised to a 8-1 win.

The Marlins scored a single run in the 3rd inning in a scoreless game, but that was all they got as Charles Thomas threw out a runner at the plate for the 3rd out of the inning. Chipper Jones hit the 3 run homer the next inning as the Braves scored 4 that inning, and 3 the next inning. They added another run late on JD Drew's 31st homer.

Paul Byrd (8-5) allowed a bunch of hits, but he threw strikes and got out of trouble frequently. He pitched 5 innings allowing one run on 9 hits, 0 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Kevin Gryboski, Antonio Alfonseca, Chris Reitsma, and John Smoltz each pitched a scoreless inning to finish up the game. Smoltz, if I'm not mistaken, finished his 55th game and he only needs 3 more games finished to vest his option for next year.

Hitting Stars: Marcus Giles and Adam LaRoche were both 3 for 5. Chipper Jones hit the big 3 run homer in the 4th (his 29th homer, and he now has 88 RBIs). JD Drew hit his 31st homer, and he now has 89 RBIs. Drew also reached base 3 other times by walking. Johnny Estrada and Charles Thomas both reached base twice. Pretty productive night for the offense, good pitching too; a good team effort overall other than the 2 errors.