PHILLIES NEWS

Tonight's game was a contest between 2 teams headed in opposite directions in the Wild Card race, The Phillies who are closing fast, and the Braves who are rapidly fading away. As you might guess, when it was over, the Phillies were closer to lead in the wild card, and the Braves were further away from it. The Phillies got the early lead on a 2 run homer by Ryan Howard (39 homers now and 101 RBIs) and never looked back. Initially it seemed like the Braves were still in the game, when they quickly scored a run in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 2-1, but ultimately they would never recover from Howard's blast. Following the 4th inning, Braves starter Horacio Ramirez was forced to leave the game with an injury to his hand. Thus, just 5 innings into the game the Phillies had the opportunity to feast on the Braves shaky bullpen and they did. In the 5th inning alone they scored 5 runs, capitalizing on a multitude of Braves mistakes, both in the outfield and the infield. Several times, the Phillies should have had their 5 run rally halted, but time and time again they were able to extend the inning, on blooped base hits that fell in , and double plays that weren't turned. Already ahead 8-1 after 4 and 1/2 innings the Phillies seemed to be on victory's doorstep, but for some reason starter Brett Myers suddenly lost the ability to throw a strike and momentarily allowed the braves back in the game, giving up 3 runs, to cut the lead to 7-4 in the bottom of the 5th inning. From there though, with their bullpen blanking the Braves, the Phils were able to tack on a couple runs and hold on for a big 9-6 win. With the win the Phillies are now back to within 2.5 games of the wild card, and with the wild card leading Reds slated to visit Citizens Bank Park this weekend, they are suddenly in good position to take the lead in the wild card race. To me this current run by the Phillies, is just pleasant surprise, and I really hope it keeps going until the end of the regular season. Well, happy trails everyone.