Chuck James needs a good stretch to get him back to the big leagues. Pilates exercises four times a day might be part of the answer.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say James turned in his best pitching performance of the season in the Richmond Braves' 3-1 victory over Charlotte yesterday before 3,140 at The Diamond.

The left-hander threw seven shutout innings. He allowed three hits, struck out eight and retired 15 straight hitters while getting offensive help from Jason Perry (a two-run homer) and shortstop Brent Lillibridge (three hits).

Flexibility has been an issue for James. Hamstring and quadriceps tightness caused a consistently sore knee, which caused a sore back, which caused a sore shoulder, which cascaded into problems in his delivery.

James won 11 games in each of the past two seasons in Atlanta. He started this year on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation and then was roughed up for 21 runs in 23 innings in two stints with the big Braves.

He eventually landed on Richmond's disabled list in late May with a sore back. A doctor recommended he start stretching.

"I had always been told I was tight," he said. "But I had always been successful. It didn't hit me until this last time they told me. I had nothing to lose."

Better flexibility has allowed James to work on correcting bad habits that have crept into his delivery. Since returning from the DL, he has thrown 14 scoreless innings. The velocity on his fastball has gone from 86-88 mph to 88-92.

"My location is there," James said. "All my pitches are coming off my hand right. I'm where I need to be."

BAD BREAK: Richmond third baseman Wes Timmons broke a bone on the outside of his left foot while rounding first base Saturday. He will undergo surgery today to have a screw inserted. Timmons will miss at least six weeks and maybe the rest of the season.

The injury, called a "Jones fracture," involves the fifth metatarsal.

Timmons said his foot has been sore for about a month. "The doctor said I probably already had it," he said. "It just got worse and worse. When I hit the bag, I felt it pop."

BLUE ON BLUE: Yesterday's umpires, Brian Kennedy and Bobby Price, wore blue armbands to raise awareness for prostate-cancer testing. They worked the game without the third member of the crew, Damien Beal, who was called up to the big leagues.

LATE GAME: Richmond rallied from a 4-2 deficit going into its final at-bat in the seventh inning and won the second game of Saturday's doubleheader 5-4 in 10 innings. The game ended about 12:10 a.m.

The Braves put two runners aboard with one out in the seventh before Scott Thorman (two RBI) singled in one run and Barbaro Canizares singled in another.

They won it in the 10th when Carl Loadenthal beat out an infield single, took second on Clint Sammons' sacrifice bunt and scored on Enrique Cruz's hit just inside the first-base bag.

UP NEXT: Richmond and Charlotte play a 7 p.m. game at The Diamond. Braves left-hander Damian Moss (2-6, 4.81 ERA) is scheduled to pitch against righty Lance Broadway (6-4, 3.13).

CHARLOTTE	RICHMOND
	a	r	h	bi			a	r	h	bi
Owens cf	4	0	0	0		Andrsn cf	3	0	0	1
Fields 3b	4	0	0	0		Hrnndz 2b	4	0	0	0
Richar ss	4	0	1	0		Thrmn 1b	4	0	0	0
Eldred 1b	4	0	1	0		Canzrs dh	4	1	2	0
Wise rf	4	0	1	0		Perry lf	4	1	2	2
Cook lf	3	0	1	0		Jurich rf	3	0	0	0
Bourgs dh	3	0	2	0		Cruz 3b	2	0	1	0
Getz ss	3	0	0	0		Sammons c	3	0	0	0
Price c	3	1	1	1		Lillbrdge ss	3	1	3	0
Totals	32	1	7	1		Totals	30	3	8	3

Charlotte ------------------------- 000 000 010 - 1 7 0
Richmond ------------------------- 000 210 00x - 3 8 0

DP - Charlotte 1, Richmond 2. LOB - Charlotte 4, Richmond 5. 2B - Canizares (14). 3B - Lillibridge (1). HR - Price (1), Perry (3). SF - Anderson.

Charlotte	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Haeger L 5-5	7	8	3	3	1	5
Sauerbeck	1	0	0	0	0	2
Richmond
James W 2-2	7	3	0	0	0	8
Schreiber	1	2	1	1	0	0
Gonzalez S 1	1	2	0	0	0	0

Time - 2:08. A - 3,743 paid.

SATURDAY'S GAME TWO CHARLOTTE	RICHMOND
	a	r	h	bi			a	r	h	bi
Getz 2b	5	0	0	0		Andrsn cf	4	2	2	0
Bourgs rf	4	1	2	0		Tmmns 3b	1	0	1	1
Richar ss	4	1	2	0		Lllbrdge pr-ss	3	1	0	0
Eldred dh	5	1	1	4		Thrmn dh	3	0	2	2
Wise cf	5	0	2	0		Canzrs 1b	5	0	1	1
Cook lf	4	0	0	0		Hrndz ss-2b	5	0	2	0
Cortz 3b-1b	4	0	0	0		Jurich rf	5	0	2	0
Huffman 1b	3	1	1	0		Ldnthl lf	4	1	1	0
Phillips c	5	0	1	0		Fasano c	3	0	0	0
						Smmns pr-c	0	0	0	0
						Cruz 2b-3b	4	1	2	1
Totals	39	4	9	4		Totals	37	5	13	5

Charlotte ------------------------- 004 000 000 0 - 4 9 0
Richmond ------------------------- 100 010 200 1 - 5 13 1

E - Sammons (5). LOB - Charlotte 11, Richmond 12. 2B - Wise (14), Cruz 2 (4). HR - Eldred (24). S - Thorman, Cruz, Sammons. SB - Cortez (5), Wise (15), Anderson 2 (15). CS - Lillibridge (5).

Charlotte	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Carrasco	5	6	2	2	2	6
Childers	1.1	3	2	2	1	2
Wassermann	1.2	2	0	0	1	0
Rodriguez L 0-1	1.1	2	1	1	0	1
Richmond
Gamble	6	6	4	4	2	6
Gonzalez	1	0	0	0	0	2
Nunez	2	3	0	0	2	3
Resop W 2-0	1	0	0	0	2	2

WP - Carrasco.

HBP - by Wassermann (Fasano).

Time - 3:26. A - 4,316 paid.