PHILLIES NEWS

Ever since he came back from his infamous leave of absence, Brett Myers has been simply lights out and he was again tonight, but unfortunately for him and the Phils, Marlin's starter Ricky Nolasco was just a tic better. While Myers shutout the Marlins for 7 innings, and gave up just 1 run on 5 hits in 8 innings of work, Nolasco not only shutout the Phils, he no-hit them for 6 and 2/3rds innings, before Abraham Nunez beat out an infield hit, the phils only hit of he night off Nolasco in 7 and 1/3rd innings. When Myers left the game he and Phillies only trailed 1-0 and there was still hope for a victory, but that all evaporated quickly in the top of the 9th inning, as relievers Geoff Geary, and Aaron Fultz were roughed up for 3 runs on 3 hits, for a 4-0 Marlin's lead. Thus, by the time Ryan Howard stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the inning with his 33rd homer of the year, it was merely a formality, as the Phils went down in order from there for a 4-1 loss. On a more positive note, although it appeared for a while that this could be the night that ended it, Chase Utley did manage to extend his hitting streak with a single in the 8th inning, to 28 games, which if you do the math is halfway to Joltin Joe's 56, and 8 games away from Jimmy Rollins team record of 36 set earlier this year. In other news the Phillies continued their selling today(Friday), dealing David Bell to the Milwaukee Brewers for minor league pitching prospect Wilfredo laureano, another single A who probably won't be helping the Philles for a little while. Now, what this trade really means, of course is that for now anyway, Abrahem Nunez will start at 3rd base for the Phils. However, considering Nunez's blistering .157 batting average, Gm Pat Gillick has said that the Phillies will look to make a deal for a 3rd baseman if they can before the trade deadline, on Monday. Also with Nunez starting the Phillies have no backup middle infielders, and Chris Coste, yes Chris Coste the backup catcher, is now also the Phillies backup at 1st and 3rd base as well, so that is something else the Phillies may try to address before the trade deadline. Well, happy trails everyone.