Phillies Win As Mets Drop 5th In A Row

The Philadelphia Phillies 14th inning win over the St. Louis Cardinals and another New York Mets loss to the Washington Nationals allowed the Phils to gain another game in the battle for the NL East. The Phillies are now only 1.5 games back after being as much as 6 games back on September 10th.

The Phillies won a 14 inning marathon in which Cole Hamels made his first start since coming off the DL. Hamels threw 54 pitches over the course of 3 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 2 and walking 1. Hamels next scheduled start will be September 23rd against the Washington Nationals.

Jayson Werth has been a surprise catalyst for the Phillies sudden resurgence. In August Werth had a ridiculous .414 batting average to go along with 3 home runs and 19 RBI's. In last night's game Werth had two triples and 3 RBI's, including 2 on a triple that sealed the win. During this current month of September, Werth is batting .302 with a team leading 15 RBI's.

The Phillies have a chance tonight to complete the sweep of the slumping Cardinals and with the cooperation of the Mets, could possibly be only a half game back.

EAST	W	L	PCT	GB	HOME	ROAD	RS	RA	STRK	L10
NY Mets	83	67	.553	-	40-34	43-33	729	674	Lost 5	4-6
Philadelphia	82	69	.543	1.5	43-32	39-37	840	783	Won 6	8-2

Phillies Move Within 2.5 Games Of The Mets

Rookie Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Kyle Kendrick picked up his 9th win of the season as the Phillies almost blow a 11 run lead in a 13-11 win against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Aaron Rowand and Ryan Howard both hit 2 home runs, including a grand slam by Howard in the 6th inning. Rowand, who is making it more evident that the Phillies re-sign him, now has 26 home runs on the season while Howard increased his total to 40.

Once again the bullpen for the Phillies almost gave away the game but luckily the bleeding stopped after Kane Davis came in. Francisco Rosario picked up his 1st save of the season last night.

The Phillies continue their 3 game series with the Cardinals tonight. Cole Hamels, making his first appearance since coming off the disabled list, takes the mound against the Cardinals Todd Wellemeyer.

With their win the Phillies have moved within 2.5 games of the first place New York Mets who were handily beaten by cellar dweller, Washington Nationals 12-4.

The Phillies Complete The Sweep

The Philadelphia Phillies, who at one point were 7 games back of the New York Mets in the NL East, have now closed that to 2 games. With this sweep the Phillies lead the season series 9 to 6. A combination of a healthy Chase Utley (who had the game winning hit last night) and a healthy bullpen were the catalysts. It doesn't hurt either when Pat Burrell hits 4 home runs during the series. Of course, the question on every Phillies fans mind is, "Can we keep this up?". A good question indeed.

The rest of the way the Phillies play some tough opponents. Teams the Phillies will play that are in the playoff hunt include 6 games versus the Atlanta Braves, 4 versus Colorado Rockies, 3 versus the St. Louis Cardinals, and 3 games against the Mets. It certainly will be interesting to see how the Phillies come away from that kind of schedule but after this series Philly fans are actually talking playoffs. PLAYOFFS!