PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils continued their series with the Marlins tonight. Cole Hamels got the start and was effective allowing just 1 run in 5 innings, before mother nature ended his night with a 1 hour rain delay. Meanwhile the Phils were able to jump out to a quick 4 - 1 lead before the rain delay. However, after the delay the Phils bullpen couldn't hold the lead and the game ended up going into extra innings. Fortunately, the Phils have been exceptional in extra inning games on the road this season and tonight was no exception. Chase Utley got things going in the top of the 1st with a 2 run homer. Adam Coghlan answered in the bottom of the 1st for the fish with a solo shot to leadoff. In the top of the 4th a single by Jayson Werth and a double by Pedro Feliz made it 4-1 Phils. Then the rains came and washed away an almost assured 7 or 8 inning outing for Hamels. Instead Chan Ho Park came in for the 6th inning. He got out of that inning easily, but he allowed a run in the 7th to pull Florida to within 2. Then Ryan Madson and J.C Romero both faltered in the 8th inning, before giving way to Chad Durbin who allowed the tying run on a single by ex-Phil Wes Helms. The bullpen recovered from there on out though as Durbin, Scott Eyre, and a fresh off the DL Clay Condrey combined to blank the fish in the 9th, 10th, and 11th innings. Then in the top of the 12th the Phils finally broke the tie with RBI singles by Utley and Werth for a 6-4 lead. Finally in the bottom of the 12th, despite allowing a run, Brad Lidge came in and got the save for the 6-5 win. The Phils propensity to win games on the road like this is just remarkable. It shows that they clearly believe they can win every night they go out there. You could just see during the game tonight, even after it was tied at 4 that still believed they were going to win, while the Marlins were just hoping they would. They say that if you truly believe in yourself you can do anything, and right now that old adage applies to the Phils better than ever. Anyway so the Phils are now 50-38 overall and 6 games up in the NL East.