PHILLIES NEWS

Thanks to the aforementioned rainout the last time they were in Washington the Phils had to play two today in Washington. In the first game this afternoon Brett Myers got the start and had a good day allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits while striking out 8 in 7 strong innings. Meanwhile the Phils racked up 14 hits and again just enough runs to hold off the Nats. In the top of the 1st, Raul Ibanez slammed a solo homer for a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 1st Ryan Zimmerman slugged a solo homer to knot it up at 1. In the top of the 2nd Jayson Werth lined a solo homer into the seats for a 2-1 lead. In the top of the 3rd Ibanez crushed a 3 run homer for a 5-1 lead. In the bottom of the 4th Josh Willingham slapped a solo homer to cut it to 5-2. In the top of the 5th Werth singled in a run for a 6-2 lead. In the top of the 8th Jimmy Rollins and "the Flyin Hawaiian" , Shane Victorino each singled in a run for an 8-2 lead. In the bottom of the 8th Ryan Madson allowed 3 runs on a double by Cristian Guzman, a sac fly by Nick Johnson, and a single by Zimmerman to cut the lead to 8-5. Fortunately, Brad Lidge bared down in the 9th and retired the side without allowing a run for the first time in a while, to close out the 8-5 win. In the 2nd game AAA call up Andrew Carpenter got the start(because he threw 2 innings last night, J.A Happ could not make the start freshly and anyone else would have been out of their usual schedule) and did just enough to help the Phils win, allowing 5 runs on 8 hits in 4 and 1/3rd innings. Meanwhile the Phils racked up another 9 hits and just enough runs to hold off the Nats in a rain shortened affair. In the bottom of the 1st, the nerves got to Carpenter as he allowed Johnson to single in a run for a 1-0 lead. In the top of the 3rd, after Carpenter had settled down for a bit, Chase Utley doubled in one run and Ryan Howard crushed a 2 run homer to dead center for a 3-1 lead. In the bottom of the 4th Will Nieves singled in a run to cut it to 3-2. In the top of the 5th Ibanez slammed another 3 run homer and Carlos Ruiz later worked a bases loaded walk for a 7-2 lead. Carpenter finally ran into trouble again in the 5th, as Willie Harris singled in a couple runs and Ronnie Belliard tripled to score Harris and cut the lead to 7-5. Fortunately Clay Condrey came in for Carpenter and managed to get out of the inning. Then in the top of the 6th after the Phils had loaded the bases, and were probably about to blow the game open anyway, the rains came, halting play. Ninety minutes later the game was called sealing a rain-shortened 7-5 Phils win. So the Phils move to 19-16 overall and pull to within 1.5 games of the Mets.