PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils continued their series with the Nationals tonight as Joe Blanton took the mound looking to redeem himself after a subpar showing in his last outing. He did that and more tossing 6 scoreless innings while striking out 7 on just 5 hits. Meanwhile, the Phils used some clutch play to put up 6 runs over the 1st 7 innings. In the 1st, with 2 on and 2 out, a double steal got the Phils their 1st run, with a successful steal of 2nd base by Ryan Howard opening the door for Chase Utley to steal home. An error by Ian Desmond allowed Raul Ibanez to score the Phils 2nd run of the night in the 6th inning. Finally in the 7th inning after Ibanez toughed out a 9 pitch walk to load the bases, Jayson Werth broke the game wide open with a grand slam. Just like that it was 6-0 Phils. They still needed another 6 outs though. Ryan Madson and Tyler Walker combined to get them and hold off Washington 6-1. Ryan Howard now has 7 stolen bases this season. Who would have even dreamed that a year ago. Werth's homer was his 34th of the season. He might just hit 40 which would be rarified air for a Phillies player. Only 6 Phils have ever hit 40 homers in a season, Chuck Klein, Cy Williams, Ryan Howard, Jim Thome, Dick Allen and of course Mike Schmidt. The only bad news for the Phils tonight is that stud reliever Chan Ho Park badly injured his hamstring while pitching in the 7th inning tonight. Fortunately J.C Romero is back with the Phils again after a stint on the DL and Clay Condrey looks to be back from his time on the DL shortly. So they can get by right now without Park, but it will be a huge blow if it turns out that Park is done for the season. Anyway so the Phls move to 86-40 overall now and remain 7 games up in the NL East.