PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils completed their series with the Giants tonight. Pedro Martinez got the start against reigning NL Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum and surprisingly Pedro outdueled him, allowing just 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 9 in 7 innings. Meanwhile, Jayson Werth crushed a monster 425 ft home run in the bottom of the 2nd, and Ryan Howard slapped an RBI double in the bottom of the 6th, to lift the Phils to a 2-1 lead through 7. Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless 8th inning and Brad Lidge came in and the got the save in the 9th, forcing a groundout with 2 on and 2 out. So it seems Pedro may be in the rotation to stay but I think still he'll need to make 1 more start like that to lock up his rotation spot for good. I hesitate to say it for fear of jinxing him, but it seems Brad Lidge has finally turned the corner and gotten back at least somewhat to the guy he was last season. Hopefully he'll keep it up the rest of the season. Werth's homer today was his 30th of the season, giving him 30 homers and 80 RBIs so far this season. What an effort from a guy whose best season before now was the 24 homers he jacked last season. How good do the Phils look now for giving him another chance to play regularly in the big leagues after the Dodgers had given up on him? Over the last 3 games the Phils have scored a total of 3 runs, and yet they managed to take 2 of 3 from the Giants. That is just incredible and is something that has not happened for the Phils since 1963. Still, you would rather see them score more runs, because 3 runs in 3 games won't work all the time. Anyway so the Phils move to 77-54 overall and now 8.5 games up in the NL East.