PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils continued to take it to the Cubs tonight, in the 2nd of their 3 game set. Cole Hamels got the start and was dominant allowing o runs on 1 hit in 7 innings of work. Meanwhile, the Phils weren't so lenient on the Cub's pitching staff scattering 7 runs and 11 hits over their 9 innings. In fact, the only blemish for the Phils on the night came when Shane Victorino went down with a strained calf. Hopefully he won't be out long, but until he returns Sao Taguchi and Jayson Werth will patrol center field, so we'll have to see how that goes. The Phils struck first blood in the bottom of the 2nd inning, as Pedro Feliz slammed a 2 run homer. In the bottom of the 5th the Phils widened the margin and knocked starter Ted Lilly out of the game, as Victorino singled and scored on a wild pitch, Chase Utley doubled, and finally Ryan Howard lofted a 2 run homer to center, for a 5-0 cushion. In the top of the 8th Alphonso Soriano helped the Cubs avoid the shutout by slapping a 2 out RBI single to cut the lead to 5-1. The Phils put it away for good in the bottom of the inning as Carlos Ruiz, singled and scored on a double by Taguchi and Taguchi did likewise on a double by Werth. Then in the 9th, since it was not a save situation Clay Condrey came in and put the Cubs down in order to close out the 7-1 victory. So the Phils improve to 6-6 overall and move to back to .500 for the 3rd time this season.