<p>Mike Hampton has few explanations for the turnaround that's made him one of baseball's best pitchers over the past few weeks.</p><p>Hampton pitched two-hit ball over eight innings and Andruw Jones hit a two-run homer to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.</p><p>"Confidence is pretty high and, in this game, when you've got confidence anything can happen," Hampton said.</p><p>Eli Marrero went 3-for-4 and Julio Franco had two RBIs for the Braves, who went 20-8 in August, marking just their second 20-win August since moving to Atlanta from Milwaukee after the 1965 season. They also did it in 1999, going 21-7.</p><p>The Braves got another strong effort from Hampton (11-9), who retired the first 10 batters before allowing a single in the fourth. Hampton walked one and struck out one while improving to 10-2 in his last 12 starts and 3-0 this season against the Phillies.</p><p>"It seems like he always pitches great against us," manager Larry Bowa said.</p><p>Hampton said he's made few adjustments since his 1-7 start and is the beneficiary of more good breaks.</p><p>"I felt like I didn't pitch that poorly," he said. "I didn't pitch great, but with a couple of bounces or hops going my way that I still could have got off to a pretty good start. Things are just going my way."</p><p>John Smoltz _ used because he hadn't pitched since Friday _ gave up two runs in the ninth on a wild pitch and Jim Thome's RBI single before striking out Mike Lieberthal with runners on first and third.</p><p>The Phillies showed some signs of life in the NL wild-card race after a three-game sweep of Milwaukee last weekend, but an interleague loss at Chicago and another lethargic performance at home made postseason play a real longshot.</p><p>It's been a stunning six-week slide for the Phillies. Atlanta and Philadelphia were tied for first in the NL East after splitting a two-game series July 19-20. The Braves' lead over the Phillies has swelled to a whopping 12 1/2 games since.</p><p>"It looks like Philadelphia's going through the same thing we were going through with all their injured guys out," Braves manager Bobby Cox said.</p><p>Eric Milton (13-3) battled back spasms and gave up seven hits, three runs _ two earned _ and walked five in six innings. Milton was 11-2 on July 4, but the free-agent lefty is 2-1 with eight no-decisions since.</p><p>A win would've made Milton the first Phillies pitcher to start 14-2 in 114 years. Instead, he was done in by little offensive support and the long ball, giving up his NL-worst 37th homer.</p><p>Milton allowed a one-out single to Johnny Estrada in the sixth and Jones followed with his 22nd homer, a two-run shot that was caught by a fan in the front row of the right-field seats for a 3-1 lead.</p><p>"I've had balls that people have caught over the wall before. I'll take that one," Jones said.</p><p>A television replay showed the fan leaned over the wall for the catch, then tossed the ball back onto the field.</p><p>"That's the way the year's gone," Milton said. "Off the bat, I thought it was an out."</p><p>Brian Giles and J.D. Drew both singled and scored on Franco's single to left in the seventh, making it 5-1.</p><p>The Braves could've bust the game open in the seventh, but Phillies left fielder Jason Michaels made a nice hard-charging, diving catch on a low liner to rob Chipper Jones of a two-out hit with the bases loaded.</p><p>The Braves took a 1-0 lead in third when Chipper Jones walked and Franco singled to center. Franco's hit one-hopped to center fielder Marlon Byrd, who stabbed at the ball and missed, allowing the ball to roll to the wall and for Jones to score.</p><p>The Phillies tied it at 1 in the fifth on a solo homer to left by Lieberthal.</p><p>Notes:@ The Phillies recalled slugging 1B Ryan Howard and C A.J. Hinch from Triple-A Scranton. ... The Braves optioned RHP Roman Colon to Double-A Greenville and recalled OF Dewayne Wise from Triple-A Richmond. ... Philadelphia placed LHP Randy Wolf on the disabled list with tendinitis in his left elbow. The Phillies recalled INF Shawn Wooten from Triple-A Scranton. ... Drew extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a seventh-inning single. ... The Braves had double-digit hits for the 11th straight game, the longest streak in the majors since Seattle also did it in 11 straight in 2001.</p>
