Braves don't need stars

NEW YORK - The Atlanta Braves scored seven runs Saturday to beat the New York Mets and give themselves a chance this afternoon to break even on this 10-game road trip.

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And they did it without the help of anyone with the name Jones on his back. And without one of their ace's best efforts, for that matter.

Andruw Jones and Chipper Jones went a combined 0-for-9 with a walk, and Tim Hudson gave up four runs in six innings, but the rest of the lineup benchpressed the load in a 7-4 victory at Shea Stadium.

First baseman Adam LaRoche had been mired in a full-on slump and right fielder Jeff Francoeur had been in a mini-rut, but the two guys hitting behind the Joneses elevated themselves to go a combined 7-for-10 with two RBI and four runs scored.

And the player hitting behind them, left fielder Ryan Langerhans, went 2-for-3 with three RBI.

"It is a boost, especially coming down the stretch like this, to know that they can struggle one game and we can still carry our own weight," LaRoche said. "They don't have to do everything for us."

With the victory, Atlanta's magic number to clinch the NL East dropped to nine.

It would have been eight if Philadelphia hadn't put a 10-spot up in the ninth to rally and beat Florida. The Phillies took advantage of four Marlins errors in the inning to stay five games back of Atlanta.

LaRoche was hitting .132 with four RBI in his past 21 games; that skid included an 0-for-22 slump that caused him to say earlier this week that he thought he was done going "0-for- something-stupid."

After his first three-hit game since Aug. 19, it seems like it. The second-year player hit a two-run homer in the first to take advantage of third baseman David Wright's throwing error that allowed Andruw Jones to reach first, his only time on base since hitting his 50th home run Wednesday.

Andruw Jones is 0 for his past 13 for his first three-game hitless streak since May 24-27.

"When you get to playoff time, guys aren't going to let Chipper or Andruw beat them, they're going to make the rest of the lineup beat them," Francoeur said.

"It was good for us to come through and get some hits like that."

It was good for Hudson, too. He hadn't won in two starts and looked on the ropes Saturday after nearly relinquishing a 5-0 lead after a two-run homer by Cliff Floyd and solo shots by Mike Piazza and rookie Mike Jacobs in the fourth.

Reach Travis Haney at travis.haney@morris.com.

Magic number

Combination of Braves' wins and Phillies' losses to win the NL East:9