The Phillies, who came in one game behind Florida in the NL wild-card race, have won three straight against division-leading Atlanta and five of six overall since Houston swept a three-game series in Philadelphia last week.
Atlanta's Andruw Jones' 50th homer, becoming the first major leaguer to reach that mark since Alex Rodriguez (57) and Jim Thome (52) in 2002. Jones' homer, the 300th of his career, was solo shot into the second deck in left field was off Geoff Geary in the eighth inning. The 28-year-old became the 12th player in major league history to hit 300 homers before his 30th birthday.
Cory Lidle pitched five effective innings and Jimmy Rollins had three hits, extending his career-best hitting streak to 20 games. Jason Michaels homered and drove in three runs and David Bell also had three hits for Philadelphia.
Lidle (11-10) allowed three runs and seven hits to win his second straight start since coming off the disabled list.
Consecutive singles by Bell and Mike Lieberthal loaded the bases with one out in the third inning against Horacio Ramirez (11-9). Martinez followed with a liner into the left-field seats for his first homer this season, giving the Phillies a 7-0 lead.
Martinez started at first base for Ryan Howard, a left-handed hitter who had the night off against the left-handed Ramirez. Howard had nine homers in the previous 19 games, but manager Charlie Manuel still kept him out of the lineup. Martinez made the often-criticized Manuel look like a genius.
Ramirez allowed seven runs six earned and eight hits in three innings in his shortest outing of the season and worst since giving up eight runs in five innings against Cincinnati on Aug. 3.
Philadelphia scored three times in the first with help from Atlanta's defense and a few lucky bounces.
Rollins doubled leading off the inning. After Michaels struck out, Rollins stole third base and scored on Bobby Abreu's infield single up the middle.
Pat Burrell followed with another infield single to second base and Chase Utley reached when second baseman Marcus Giles made an errant flip to second base while trying to turn a double play.
Bell hit an RBI single to left, and Lieberthal had a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
Notes: Jones had never hit more than 36 homers in a season, reaching that mark in 2000 and 2003. ... Rollins is the 16th player in team history since 1900 to have a hitting streak of 20 games. The longest was 26 games by Chuck Klein in 1930. ... Martinez tied a career-high with four RBIs. He did it with San Francisco against the Dodgers in 2002. ... The Phillies have seven slams this season, one short of the team record set by the 1993 NL champions. ... Burrell walked four times, and has a career-high 91 walks this season. ... 3B Chipper Jones was back in the lineup after not starting Tuesday night because of strained left quadriceps.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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