PHILLIES NEWS

It was an important night for the Phils in more ways than one. Shane Victorino returned from the DL and worked a walk in a pinch hit appearance. It was confirmed that Ross Gload won't go on the DL and instead is day to day with his groin strain. He could be ready to at least pinch hit again by next Wednesday. Finally the Braves had the night off as they tried to stomach the news that Chipper Jones is out of the season with a torn ACL. At any rate with Atlanta idle a Phils win in this one would cut Atlanta's division lead to just 2.

early on it didn't look like the Phils would be improving their standing any time soon as Joe Blanton was roughed up right off the bat for 3 runs in the 1st. Fortunately, he recovered enough to go another 4 and 2/3rds innings while allowing just 4 runs on 8 hits. Basically he did just enough to allow the Phils to hang in there through 6. Hang in there they did and then some. First, a fielder's choice in the 2nd and an RBI single by Carlos Ruiz in the 4th helped the Phils cut the lead to 3-2. It didn't stay that close for long though as the Dodgers eventually added another run off Blanton. Then the Phils bullpen struggled through the 7th and 8th innings allowing a combined 5 runs for a stunning 9-2 Dodger lead.

The Phils had every right to give up at that point, down 9-2 heading into the 9th, but they just would not as the Dodger bullpen had some struggles of its own. First in the 8th, Jayson Werth slapped a 2 run single, Ben Francisco doubled to score him and later with one out Wilson Valdez singled to score Francisco and just like that it was a ballgame again with the score 9-6 Dodgers. A couple batters later Raul Ibanez actually came to the plate as the tying run but he grounded into an inning ending double play to give the Dodgers a brief reprieve. That is, until Jonathan Broxton, twice killed by the Phils in the postseason, was forced to come in for the save in 9th. He struggled just as much as the rest of the Dodger bullpen.

First he Placido Polanco with a pitched ball to leadoff the inning. Then after a long at bat he issued a walk to Mike Sweeney to bring Jayson Werth to plate again as the tying run. Werth too walked to load the bases for Francisco the potential winning run. Francisco ripped a groundball right at 3B Casey Blake for a potential rally killing double play but Blake missed it, instead watching it going straight through his legs as 2 runs scored to cut it to 9-8. That left runners on 1st and 2nd and still nobody out for Carlos Ruiz. 3 pitches later Ruiz laced a double off the top of the wall in left center, scoring Werth from 2nd easily to tie it at 9 and shockingly Francisco, who was right on Werth's heels, scored from 1st as well to win it 10-9. Heck even I was shocked that they won. So you can imagine what the Dodgers were feeling as they walked off the field. Anyway, with the win the Phils pull to within 2 games in the NL East and remain 1 game out in the wildcard.