PHILLIES NEWS

Given how the Phillies have been playing lately, it seemed justified to think that day belonged to them, after they had scored 10 runs through the 1st 4 innings on a homer and RBI single by Mike Lieberthal, a 3 run homer and 4 RBIs by Abraham Nunez, 4 hits and 3 runs scored by Aaron Rowand, and 2 hits and 2 RBIs by Pat Burrell, and owned a 10 -1 a lead. However, no one told the Nationals the game was over. Through 5 innings phils starter Randy Wolf had dazzled the Nationals hitters, holding them to just 2 runs, but in the 6th inning the bottom the fell out as he tired from spending to much time on the base paths. Wolf was unable to retire a batter in the inning and wound up being charged with 5 runs allowed before the inning was over, as part of a 6 run 6th inning for the Nats. Suddenly, and without warning the Nationals had stormed back, and the Phillies now led by only 2, at 10-8. In only 1/2 of an inning, the Phillies had gone from a relatively comfortable victory, to a real dogfight, but that wasn't their only problem. Back in the 5th inning with his team ahead 10-2, manager Charlie Manuel, apparently sensing victory, had taken Chase Utley out of the game in favor of Danny Sandoval. Thus, Utley was no longer available for the Phillies for the remainder of the game. Now since they were only ahead 10-8, the Phillies really needed to tack on some extra runs in order to put the outcome to rest, but without Utley, it seemed like that would not be easy. Luckily for the Phils, replacing Utley with Sandoval did not prove to be disastrous, as Sandoval himself wound up plating the phils 11th and eventual winning run on a sac fly in the 7th inning. the Nationals actually battled back in with 2 runs in the 8 inning, but the the Phils were able to tack on another run in the bottom of the 8th and hang on for a 12-10 win. Yeah, so the Phils made it a lot harder than it should have been, but a win is a win, so they have nothing to be ashamed of. Now unfortunately the Reds won again today as well so the Phils are still 2.5 games back. Well, happy trails everyone