PHILLIES NEWS

Even when the Phils won tonight they lost. Freddy Garcia had another solid outing, going 6 innings and allowing just 3 runs on 5 hits, 2 of them solo homers by Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez. The Phils led by Chase Utley's 2 run homer in the 1st inning racked up 4 runs and 5 hits off Marlins starter Byung Hung Kim. Until the 9th inning those 4 runs were all they needed. Entering the top of the 9th they still led 4-3 and greatly increased their chances of winning, from a possibility to sure thing, by romping for 3 runs off the Marlins bullpen to take a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th. Then things turned upside down. Brett Myers came in to close it and watched as the Marlins came all the way back to tie it at 7. They hit a couple of soft singles, a triple and Josh Willingham was hit by a pitch. Then after Myers retired the next two batters Aaron Boone lined a single, to score Hanley Ramirez with the tying run, even though Jayson Werth's throw from left field beat him by 10 feet. Catcher Rod Barajas failed to block the plate and instead tried to stand up and tag him, but Ramirez slid through Barajas' legs and beat the tag. Things then went from bad to worse for the Phils as two pitches later with Barajas and Charlie Manuel both ejected for arguing, Myers uncorked a wild pitch and ran off the field holding his shoulder. With runners now on 2nd and 3rd as a result of the pitch and Myers now on the bench with a shoulder strain, Clay Condrey came in to bail the Phils out and bail them out he did. Florida's Todd Linden hit a screaming line drive right back at Condrey on the next pitch and somehow he caught it to end the inning and force the game into extra innings. There in the top of the 10th Abraham Nunez singled in a run and Clay Condrey stayed in to close it out in the bottom of the 10th for an 8-7 Phils win. Still, despite the win which puts them back at .500 again they are now in big trouble. As both Tom Gordon and Brett Myers will now be on the DL. Thus, they now have no closer, and will either have to close by committee, or try out someone else in the closer's role. Neither of those possibilities looks good on paper, considering they didn't have much in the bullpen to begin with. So even though life is beautiful again, it still sucks.