PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils traveled to Florida tonight to begin a 3 game series with the Marlins. Having lost their last 2 games the Phils really needed to win this one to get back on track. Once again though they didn't seem to be able to come up with any momentum against Marlins starter Josh Johnson who shut them down for 7 innings on just 3 hits. Meanwhile, Brett Myers was rocked early, but managed to keep the Phils in it, toughing out 6 innings, while allowing just 3 runs on 8 hits. Still through 8 innings the Phils were scoreless and there was little chance of them pulling this one out. After all it is rare that a team blows a three run lead in the 9th inning and just as rare that a team scores 3 runs or more in the 9th inning. So the odds were truly stacked against the Phils in this one. The 3 runs came on a monster 3 run homer off the bat of Dan Uggla in the bottom of the 1st and thanks to Johnson those runs appeared to be all the Marlins would needed on this night. After that homer though Myers kept the Fish off the board through the 6th and Clay Condrey took care of business in the 7th and 8th. So coming into the 9th the Phils still trailed 3-0 but it was going to be too late for them to mount a rally right? Unfortunately, for the Marlins it wasn't too late after all. First Jayson Werth doubled and scored on a single by Matt Stairs to cut it to 3-1. Then a few batters later Jimmy Rollins walked with the bases loaded to cut it to 3-2. Next "the Flyin Hawaiian" Shane Victorino slugged a grand slam, the first of his career in the regular season(He also has one memorable postseason slam), to put the Phils up 6-3. Finally Chase Utley followed with a solo shot to make it 7-3. After allowing a couple of hits, Ryan Madson put away the shell shocked Marlins in the bottom of the inning to close out the 7-3 win. So the Phils move to 7-8 overall and will want to keep this momentum going.