PHILLIES NEWS

With 2 of their starters suspended, the Marlins entered tonight's contest without a true to put on the mound. The Phils on the other hand had Roy Halladay going for them. So it figured to be easy pickings for the Phils tonight and a golden opportunity to extend their lead in the NL East, with the Braves having lost earlier. Halladay took care of his business limiting the Fish to just 3 runs on 10 hits while striking out 9 over 6 innings. Meanwhile the Phils took easy advantage of the Marlin's lack of pitching, pounding out 10 runs on 14 hits. So it was a pretty stress free night for the men in red pinstripes.

Right off the bat in the top of the 1st, Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez made the Marlins pay for intentionally walking Ryan Hoard and Chase Utley, with an RBI single and an RBI double respectively. Later in the 3rd, Chase Utley crushed a a solo homer and Wilson Valdez and Shane Victorino each collected an RBI single to push the Phils to a 6-0 lead. In the 4th, Valdez slapped another RBI single and the Phils benefited from a wild pitch to plate another run for an 8-1 lead. In the 5th, Victorino tripled and scored on a singly by Placido Polanco for an 9-2 lead. Later in the top of the 9th, with the lead down to 9-4, Carlos Ruiz and Ross Gload combined doubles for a 9-4 lead. Finally in the home half of the 9th, after Brad Lide was unable to close it out, Jose Contreras came on to finish off the 10-5 win over the Fish and a key 3 game sweep. With the Aforementioned Braves loss the Phis, at 86-61, are now 3 games up in the NL East.