PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils stayed hot tonight, as they returned to the bank to face the San Diego Padres in the first of a 3 game set. Tonight's matchup presented an intriguing pitching duel, between Greg Maddux going for his 350th career win, and Phils ace Cole Hamels. Thankfully Hamels ultimately prevailed allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits in 7 and 1/3rd innings of work, while Maddux allowed 3 runs on 8 hits in just 6 and 1/3rd innings of work. Now onto the game. In the bottom of the first inning Eric Bruntlett walked, stole second, and scored on a single by Ryan Howard. In the bottom of the 3rd Jayson Werth tripled and scored on a single by Bruntlett for a 2-0 Phils lead. In the top of the 5th the Padres finally got on the board with a solo homer by Jerry Hairston. In the bottom of the 7th, Carlos Ruiz singled and scored on a sac fly by Werth, for a 3-1 Phils lead. In the top of the 8th, Hairston doubled and scored on a fielder's choice to cut the lead to 3-2. In the bottom of the 8th, the Phils broke it open, as with two outs, Pedro Feliz singled in a run, Carlos Ruiz slammed a 2 run double, and Greg Dobbs slapped an RBI double, for a 7-2 Phils lead. Finally in the top of the 9th, after allowing Hairston to crack a 2 run homer, Ryan Madson closed the door on the Padres to finish off a 7-4 Phils win. So the Phils improve to 15-12 overall and clinch an April above .500 at long last.