The Philadelphia Phillies (57-48) salvaged the last game of a three game set today in Washington, beating the Nationals in extra innings by a score of 6-4. The Phils were fueled by Placido Polanco's three hit day as he drove in two RBI's, including the game-breaking single in the top of the 11th.
Philadelphia has won nine of their last 11 games and are currently 2.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves after trailing as many as seven games back in the division.
Cole Hamels got the start today and while he wasn't as good as he's been over the last month, he definitely was serviceable enough to power through seven innings while giving up four runs on six hits as he struck out ten and walked none. Hamels didn't get the win and has been stuck on seven wins for almost a month, his last win came on July 11th when he beat the Cincinnati Reds.
The big news this week was the trade for former Astros ace Roy Oswalt and he took the mound for the first time as a Phillie on Friday and struggled through six innings of action and gave up four earned runs on seven hits while striking out four as he picked up his 13th loss on the season.
But the thought of Oswalt added to the top of a rotation that features Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels makes this team postseason ready and better than they were last year, rotation wise at least.
But the biggest loss today was to slugging first baseman Ryan Howard injured his left ankle but he may avoid a DL trip, which would be great considering that just about every regular in the lineup has missed time for the two-time NL Champs.Philadelphia has an off day tomorrow before traveling to Florida to take on the fourth place Florida Marlins with Roy Halladay on the mound. The Braves will be facing the Mets starting tomorrow night at Citi Field as the Phils hope to make up some more ground before the take the field Tuesday night.
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