Thank Freakin' God!

Your Philadelphia Phillies won a wild one this afternoon/evening to take the series from the Atlanta Braves, the first series they won since the All-Star Break. Oakland A import Joe Blanton handed in his second unimpressive start since coming to Philadelphia, allowing two runs on two hits in two innings with an Atlanta single-walk-single-double combo before the skies opened up and rained on his head.

After a nearly two hour rain delay, yesterday's winning pitcher Adam Eaton came in and returned to form, allowing three runs on back-to-back homers to Kelley Johnson and Omar Infante. Eaton would survive without a loss though, as Chris "Taters and Toast" Coste and "Sugar" Shane Victorino wopped two and three run dingers, respectively, in the bottom of the fourth. Pat "the Bat" Burrell added a solo shot in the fifth, his 26th of the season.

The floodgates really opened up for the Phils in the sixth. It started with a double by Carlos "Hamster Pie" Ruiz, followed by Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino singles, giving "the Sweet One" four R.B.I.'s for the day, which, as you know, is the name of the game. The Big Man, Ryan Howard, slaps yet another single, scoring J-Roll easily, and the Flyin' Hawaiian, Shane Victorino, barrelled over big ol' Brian McCann at catcher, knocking the ball lose and giving Howard his league-leading 94th ribby of the year. Jayson Werth contributed one more solo shot and MVP Jimmy Rollins, who scored three total runs today and had a stolen base, also put one out to round out the score at 12-5 by the end of the seventh.

The Bravos gave the Phils a run for their money in the eighth, hitting up odd-man-out in the bullpen Rudy Seanez for four runs and Ryan Madson for one more. Brad "Lights Out" Lidge did his thing with a walk and a strike out in the ninth, allowing no runs and recording his 24th save of the year.

Unfortunately, the hated New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals again today to hold their one game lead over the Phillies (56-49) in the National League East. The Florida Marlins lost to the Chicago Cubs to go two games back in the East, and Atlanta and the Washington Nationals remain non-factors.

The win was a good one. Taking series is how you stay at the top of the standings, and it is a minor miracle the Phils didn't fall further when they fell. Starting a winning streak, especially one featuring a multi hit game for the first four batters in the line-up and three for five with two runs scored and two R.B.I.'s out of the catching platoon, is a good way to stay very relevant. Philadelphia enjoys a day off tomorrow for the Phillies Phestival to raise awareness and money for ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. (http://www.alsa.org/) On Tuesday they'll head down to our nation's capitol to take on the humorous Nationals.