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Phillies narrow gap on Mets after series sweep
2007-08-31
The Philadelphia Phillies completed a four-game sweep of the New York Mets with a thrilling 11-10 win in the series finale on Thursday. Chase Utley drove in the winning run with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Phillies close the gap on the National League East leading Mets to two games. The Phillies squandered leads of 5-0 and 8-5 and fell behind 10-8 after the Mets scored five runs in the eighth. But Mets closer Billy Wagner allowed a solo homer to Pat Burrell in the bottom of the same inning and RBI singles to Tadahito Iguchi and Utley in the ninth to hand the Phillies the win. Burrell hit a pair of homers for the Phillies, who had 17 hits off five New York pitchers in the four-hour marathon. Ryan Howard and Aaron Rowand also homered for the Phillies, with Howard and Jimmy Rollins each having three hits. Despite the sweep, Rollins tried to keep things in perspective. "With games to go, we're still two back," said Rollins. "No matter how you look at it, we're not in the lead of anything. Right now, we still don't get to the playoffs. "When you're playing a team ahead of you, you want to beat them heads up and not rely on everybody else to help." Tom Gordon (2-2), the seventh Philadelphia pitcher of the game, pitched a scoreless inning to get the win. "We've come back all year and that shows a lot," said Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel. "It does wonders for us." Wagner (2-2) allowed three runs on four hits over 1 1/3 innings and took the loss. *The Chicago Cubs increased their lead in the NL Central to 2 games over Milwaukee with a 5-4 win over the Brewers. *The Houston Astros took the rubber game of a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals with a 2-1 win. Lance Berkman homered for the second consecutive day for Houston. *The Cincinnati Reds managed a split of their four-game series with a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. (Writing by Roger Lajoie in Toronto)
Surging Phillies rally to swat Nats 7-6 (2007-09-20)Braves rally to stun Phillies 9-8 (2007-09-05)Phillies narrow gap on Mets after series sweep (2007-08-31)Mets looking over shoulders at Phillies (2007-08-31)Howard's HR lifts Phils over Mets in 10 (2007-08-29)
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