PHILLIES NEWS

Before the game tonight the Phils acquired veteran 1B Mike Sweeney from the Mariners for a player to be named or cash. At 37 years old, Sweeney is a bit of a gamble, but he was once star for the Kansas City Royals and Phils hope he'll be able to conjure up some of that old magic while helping to fill in for Ryan Howard and later a right handed bat off the bench. If he can do so he'll be very valuable bat down stretch.

For tonight anyway, the Phils didn't seem to need Sweeney's services. Kyle Kendrick was great, allowing just 2 runs on 6 hits in 6 strong innings. Meanwhile, the Marlins committed more errors in the field and Phils continued to rack up clutch hits. In the 1st inning, Ross Gload and Dominic Brown collected back to back 2 out RBI singles for a quick 2-0 lead. In the 5th, Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, and Raul Ibanez all singled in succession to start the inning and plate 1 run and Brown slapped a sac fly for a 4-0 lead. In the 6th, after Florida had cut it to 4-2 and was within a diving grab by JRoll of tying it, Kendrick ,himself, doubled and scored on an Ibanez sac fly for a 5-2 lead.

Later in the 9th, the Phils added a couple more runs on an error by Dan Uggla and an RBI single by Carlos Ruiz. Meanwhile, Jose Contreras and Ryan Madson tossed scoreless innings in the 7th and 8th. That, left Brad Lidge to nurse a 7-2 lead in the 9th. Normally Lidge struggles in non save situations like these but tonight there were no problems at all as he retired Ronny Paulino, Donny Murphy, and Hanley Ramirez in order to close out the 7-2 win. So the Phils now have now won 3 in a row and reside at 11 games over .500 for the first time in sometime. Unfortunately, the Atlanta Braves crushed the Mets tonight and remain 2 games ahead of the Phils.