Chipper hits 400th HR to lead Braves over Marlins

Baseball Betting Lines

06/05/2008 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chipper Jones hit his 400th career home run and the Atlanta Braves defeated the Florida Marlins, 7-5, in the finale of a four- game series at Turner Field.

Jones, who finished 4-for-5 and improved his batting average this season to .418, moved into sole possession of 43rd place on the all-time home run list while Brian McCann's two-run homer and a solo shot by Yunel Escobar paced Atlanta, which won three of the four games in the series.

"It was good to get it out of the way -- (the pressure) starts to wear on you a little bit," said Jones. "Now that the monkey is off my back, I can swing easy and just let me the chips fall. It's been a long time coming and hopefully now we can relax and focus on our job."

Jair Jurrjens earned the win despite the fact that he allowed five runs and 11 hits over six innings of work with four strikeouts. Jurrjens (6-3) improved to 5-0 in seven home starts this season.

Hanley Ramirez homered and scored twice for the Marlins, who have lost four of their last five games overall and concluded their 10-game road trip with a 3-7 mark. Dan Uggla finished 3-for-5 while Jacque Jones notched an RBI and a run scored in the losing effort.

"It turned out to be a bad road trip, but on the positive side we were in every game," Uggla said. "The record on this road trip doesn't explain the way that we've played. We just came up a little short in some different situations. That's the way it goes sometimes."

Ricky Nolasco (5-4) surrendered seven runs on 11 hits over 5 2/3 innings and absorbed the loss.

The Braves moved ahead for good on McCann's two-run blast in the bottom of the fifth. Mark Teixeira hit a one-out single before McCann came to the plate and belted a fastball over the wall in left-center field.

Then in the sixth, Jones hit No. 400. Nolasco dealt a hanging slider that Jones buried into the right-field seats to increase the Atlanta lead to two.

"He (Nolasco) showed me early on that we has going to throw a lot of breaking balls," Jones said. "He threw me a 2-0 slider and I was able to get out in front of it."

Royce Ring pitched a perfect seventh for Atlanta before Jeff Bennett escaped trouble in the top of the eighth. Wes Helms hit a pinch-hit double and Ramirez drew a walk, but Bennett settled down and fanned Jeremy Hermida.

Rafael Soriano, who returned to the closer's role after the club lost John Smoltz -- who was headed for the position from the starting rotation -- for the season to shoulder surgery, worked the ninth and earned his third save.

Ramirez hit the first pitch of the game over the wall in right-center field wall for his 12th homer of the year, but the Braves tied it quickly with a run in the bottom of the first inning via Teixeira's RBI single.

In the home third, Escobar hit a deep fly ball to left-center field that caromed off the yellow stripe at the top of the wall and landed in the seats for his sixth home run of 2008 and a 2-1 Atlanta lead. Later in the inning, the Braves had the bases load with one out and Jeff Francoeur's groundout allowed Kelly Johnson to score.

Trailing 3-1, the Marlins scored four runs in the fourth to grab a two-run edge. Uggla singled and stole second before a one-out single by Matt Treanor put runners on the corners. Another base hit by Jones scored Uggla and Nolasco followed with an RBI base hit which saw Treanor cross the plate.

The tie score then because a 5-3 Florida lead. Ramirez reached first on a fielder's choice and with Jones on third base, Ramirez attempted to steal second. The throw by McCann went into center field and Jones trotted home for the Marlins' third run of the frame. The rally was capped on Jorge Cantu's base hit that brought home Ramirez.

In the bottom of the fourth, however, Atlanta cut its deficit to 5-4. Josh Anderson roped a leadoff triple and crossed the plate on an Escobar grounder.

Game Notes

Jones now joins an elite group of active players who have accumulated a career batting average of .300 with 400-plus home runs and more than 1,300 RBI along with Frank Thomas, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez. Jones now sits ahead of both Andres Galarraga and Al Kaline on the all-time homer list...The Marlins fell to 14-15 on the road this season...Nolasco had won three straight outings and was unbeaten in his last five starts prior to the game...This marked the 19th time in Ramirez' career that he has led off a game with a home run and the fourth time this season...Attendance was 27,238.

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Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds

Super Bowl XLIII, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Pittsburgh earned their passage to the big game by beating their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, 23-14 in yesterday's AFC Championship Game. The Steelers jumped on Baltimore early, building a 13-0 first half lead, and never let up on their way to a fairly easy win. Although the Ravens did close to within two points in the fourth quarter, it never appeared as if they had enough offense to pull off the upset.

The Steelers dominating defense held Baltimore to a total of 198 yards while allowing them to convert just three third downs in 13 attempts. Pittsburgh also forced quarterback Joe Flacco into three interceptions, one of which safety Troy Polamalu returned fourty yards for a touchdown.

The Cardinals, by far the playoff team with the longest odds to reach Super Bowl XLIII, did so yesterday with a 32-25 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. Arizona charged out of the gates and built a 24-6 halftime lead that had the Eagles venerable defense reeling. Quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald did most of the damage, connecting on three first half touchdowns.

Arizona, however, could not sustain their momentum and the Eagles took a 25-24 with 10:45 left to play in the fourth. The Cardinals, with the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance hanging in the balance, mounted a fourteen play, 72 yard touchdown drive that consumed 7:52 off the clock. Warner hit running back Tim Hightower on a short screen for the go-ahead, game clinching score that will forever live in Cardinal infamy.

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Pittsburgh Steelers -6.5 (-110), Over 46.5 (-110), -260 (Money line)

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