PHILLIES NEWS

Well, do I even need to tell you what happened tonight, I am sure that you already though what happened tonight. wait! what did you just say? they won! No, that can't be, not the Philles, are you sure, and they got a shutout and their starter went 8 and 2/3rd innings. Now I know you're just joshing me, right. You're not, really, I mean it's true, really, they actually won for a change. I don't believe it. Well, in the immortal words of Larry Anderson, believe it! The Phillies actually won tonight and 4-0 at that. The funny thing is that they really didn't play all that much better tonight then they have been lately, their defense didn't commit any errors and the offense only came up with 4 runs. The only difference tonight is that they just happened to get a good start from one of their pitchers. The guy who gave them this great start was of all people Ryan Madson, yes the same Ryan Madson who got bombed by the Red Sox 10-4 in his last start. Tonight however, he did complete 180 pitching 8 and 2/3rd innings of shutout ball. He would have had a complete game shutout, but he was pulled from the game in favor of closer Tom Gordon, with two outs in the 9th inning, after he gave up a single to Brandon Fahey, and a walk to Melvin Mora to bring Miguel Tejada to the plate. Gordon then promptly induced Tejada into a ground out. It would have been great if Madson had finished the game, but with the way things have been going for the Phillies lately, you can't blame Charlie Manuel for not taking any chances and giving him the hook. Just in case any of you are wondering they scored their 4 runs in the 1st inning on a David Dellucci two-run homer, in the 7th inning on a RBI groundout by Abraham Nunez, and in the Eight inning on an RBI double by Bobby Abreu. Now that the Phillies finally got a win, they need to ride the momentum from this win to a hot streak. Now, obviously, this one win is far from getting them out of their slump, but it's a start, and the Phillies just cannot afford to waste it, by stringing together more losses.