After going down with an elbow strain back in April J.A Happ finally returned to the Phils this afternoon. He wasn't quite the same old J.A, but he fought through the rust to go 5 innings, while allowing just 3 runs on 4 hits and striking out 4. Following the 5th inning a rain delay ended Happ's night with the Phils trailing 3-2. Back in 2nd inning Ben Francisco crushed a 2 run homer to put the Phils up 2-1, but Ryan Spillborghs came back with a 2 run homer in the 4th to put Colorado up 3-2. Thanks to scoreless innings from Chad Durbin in the 6th, and Ryan Madson in the 7th, it stayed 3-2 into the home half of the 7th.
In that inning, Wilson Valdez led off with a pinch double and Jimmy Rollins followed with a pinch single to knot it up at 3. On the play Carlos Gonzalez committed an error allowing JRoll to move up to 2nd. He then stole 3rd and scored on a wild pitch by Rafeal Betancourt for a 4-3. Neither team scored in the 8th so it was up to Brad Lidge to preserve the 1 run lead in the 9th. After a strikeout, a walk and another strikeout to start the inning, Melvin Mora single and Jason Giambi walked to load the bases with 2 out. Fortunately, Lidge stayed cool and managed to strike out Ian Stewart to end it at last. So the Phils have 4 straight wins now and with a loss today by the Braves they're now back within 5 games of the top of the NL East. Considering everything they've been through this season that's not a bad place to be.
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