A nice win by the Braves, though they may have made it closer than it needed to be. Even then, they beat a guy who gives them fits in Oliver Perez. After getting ahead 2-0 on back to back solo homeruns by Yunel Escobar and Garret Anderson in the second inning (their first back to back jacks this season), starter Derek Lowe encountered some trouble in the fourth and gave up the lead.

The Braves came back in the bottom of the fourth to tie it up on a Brian McCann head-first slide into home on a Matt Diaz double. McCann's left hand seemed to get spiked by the Mets catcher's shoe, but Mac stayed in the game and behind the plate. The Braves finally broke the tie in the seventh on a Chipper Jones single (Chipper had flown out in his previous three at-bats while swinging at the first pitch -- some sort of Francoeuritis).

The Braves added an insurance run in the eighth on a pinch-hit by Greg Norton, and Rafael Soriano came on for his 13th save, striking out two.

It was good to get the second half started with a win, and it was especially sweet to do it against a division rival at the start of a 4-game series.

As for the story within this game -- Jeff Francoeur, in his return to Turner Field less than a week after being traded went 0-for-4 with 1 RBI, lined into 1 double play, and never got the ball out of the infield. Ryan Church did not start this game, but did make a pinch-running appearance, scoring the fifth run of the night for Atlanta.