PHILLIES NEWS

After scuffling through losses in the first 2 games of their weekend series with the Mets ,the Phils were desperate for a win tonight, to avoid an embarrassing and demoralizing sweep, that would have put them in a real hole. Fortunately, the Met killer, Adam Eaton, 4-0 all time against the Mets, got the start and lived up to his billing, allowing just 4 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings of work, just good enough to help the Phils scratch out a victory. Meanwhile, it was simply Chase Utley's night as he slammed two homers to help power the Phils to victory. The Phils struck first in the bottom of the first as Utley lined a solo homer to center for a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 5th, Utley crushed his second homer of the night off the foul pole, with two on, to push the lead to 4-0. In the top of the 6th, the Mets finally put some runs together, as Jose Reyes tripled and scored on a single by Luis Castillo, and Carlos Beltran knocked in a couple more runs with a single and then stole second and scored a single by Ryan Church. So just like that the Mets had tied it up at 4. In the bottom of the 7th, Pedro Feliz finally put the Phils up for good, with a solo homer for a 5-4 lead. From there J.C Romero and Brad Lidge combined to close out the Mets and an important 5-4 Phils win. So the Phils improve to 9-10 overall and for now keep from falling too far behind in the standings and they struggle to get above .500.