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Braves celebrate Teixeira's arrival, pound Astros

Aug 1, 2007 - 3:32 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Braves did not need Mark Teixeira's bat to defeat the lowly Houston Astros.

Kelly Johnson homered twice and Jeff Francoeur homered and scored three times to power the retooled Braves to a 12-4 rout over the Astros on Tuesday.

Buoyed by the acquisition of the slugging first baseman Teixeira from Texas at the trade deadline, there was a very familiar swagger in the Atlanta clubhouse prior to the game.

It was a feeling that general manager John Schuerholz's moves readied the club for yet another postseason run.

Feeding on that energy, Johnson and the Braves came out swinging.

"It was exciting from the second we got here," Johnson said. "There was kind of a buzz in here and you could feel it out there. Hopefully, it's going to continue to the end of the season."

The 25-year old Johnson, who will likely be dropped to eighth in the lineup when Teixeira starts on Wednesday, singled in his first at-bat and followed by smashing a 2-2 offering from Houston starter Chris Sampson (7-8) into the right field seats in the fourth to give Atlanta a 5-1 edge.

"We joked around about it," Johnson said of his likely demotion. "The guys hitting in the sixth, seventh and eighth spots did well tonight."

After singling in the sixth, Johnson collected his second-career multi-homer game by smashing a 413-foot three-run homer to dead center field in the seventh, making it 10-4 and putting the exclamation point on the rout.

Johnson's offensive heroics were one of many for the lethal Braves lineup, which smashed 15 hits.

"We need (Teixeira), no question about it," Johnson said. "But it's nice to be swinging and scoring runs the way it's been going."

Francoeur had three hits, including a homer in the sixth, and scored three times.

Edgar Renteria, who entered Tuesday tied for the major league lead with 30 hits since the All Star Break, smashed three more hits and scored twice.

The Atlanta lineup should only get better with the addition of Teixeira, who was activated prior to the game, but did not arrive at Turner Field until in the bottom of the seventh inning.

"He'll make (our lineup) so much better," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "He's a slugger and a great first baseman. He's a great guy. He knows the city. He played for Georgia Tech."

"I spent some good years here in Atlanta," Teixeira said. "I know the city well. I've been to plenty of Braves games and have always been a fan. It will be great playing here."

Atlanta starter Chuck James (8-7), who was 2-1 with a 1.47 ERA over his last five starts, was not as good as he was in his previous game, but pitched well enough to notch the victory.

The 25-year old James surrendered four runs and six hits, walked one and struck out three to improve to 2-0 lifetime against Houston.

"Anytime you give up four runs in five innings and get the win, you'll definitely take it," James said. "I hit a wall."

Meanwhile, Sampson allowed five runs and nine hits in four frames.

"It's the dog days of summer and they don't call them dog days for nothing," Sampson said. "I was behind a little bit in the count. It's tough to pitch when you're behind."

James took a 5-1 lead into the fifth, but saw the lead cut to 5-4 on Chris Burke's RBI single and Craig Biggio's two-out double.

Houston had a chance to tie the game in the top of the sixth. Reliever Peter Moylan issued a two-out walk to Eric Bruntlett prior to Eric Munson, who smashed a ball through the legs of Johnson for an error. Francoeur's throw missed the cutoff man.

Bruntlett tried to take advantage of the miscue, but an alert Chipper Jones nailed the 29-year-old with a strong throw to the plate.

Lance Berkman homered in the first for the Astros, who lost for the third time in four games.

All-Star catcher Brian McCann tied the game at 1-1 in the second with his 12th home run for Atlanta, which has won two straight after losing four in a row.