Phillies blow brief NL East lead with loss to Nats

30.09.2007 03:01 Sport and Travel - Source: USA Today

BOX SCORE: Nationals 4, Phillies 2METS WIN BIG: Maine's near no-hitter stymies Marlins 13-0

The Phillies and New York Mets, who ended their shocking free fall with a 13-0 rout of Florida on Saturday, enter the last regular-season day tied for the division lead.

The Phillies can return to the postseason for the first time since 1993 with a victory coupled with a Mets defeat. The reverse would give the Mets the title. If they both win or lose, there'll be a playoff in Philadelphia on Monday.

With San Diego's loss to Milwaukee on Saturday the possibility a playoff involving the Phillies or Mets and Padres for the NL wild card still exists should the Padres, who've clinched a tie, lose Sunday.

"I think it's only fitting after 161 games we play for this in the last game," said Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel. "Everybody knows what's at stake. I didn't have to say a word. They were all saying, 'We'll get them tomorrow. We've done it all year.'"

Playing before a boisterous, towel-waving sellout crowd of 44,532, the Phillies who took over first place by a full game with a superb 6-0 victory on Friday night, self-destructed in what may have been their most important game of the season.

They managed just six hits and played sloppy defense.

Only eight pitches into the nationally-televised contest, starter Adam Eaton, who's become a $24.5 million bust for the Phillies, allowed the Nationals to take a 1-0 lead.

Eaton, whose 6.29 earned run average is the worst among any major-league starting pitcher, lasted just 2⅓ innings before a disgusted Manuel had seen enough.

The righthander allowed an RBI double to Ryan Zimmerman in the first to put the Phillies quickly behind. Then he got in trouble in the second after getting the first two outs, but retired Ronnie Belliard on a foul pop to leave the bases loaded.

In the third, when Zimmerman walked and Austin Kearns punched a one-out single, Manuel, amidst a chorus of cheers, went to the mound and made his move.

"I just didn't want it to get out of hand," said Manuel.

The Nationals added three runs against the Phillies bullpen and never looked back. Matt Chico (7-9) completely stymied Philadelphia's bats, allowing just one run and four hits over six innings against the league's highest-scoring offense. Chad Cordero, who one-two-threed the Phils in the ninth, gained his 37th save.

Philadelphia scored its two runs on home runs by Aaron Rowand in the seventh and Ryan Howard in the eighth.

"It was tough to see the ball because of the (late-afternoon) shadows, but it was the same for both teams," said Rowand. "I don't think the shadows left until the sixth or seventh inning. But, no excuses. They hit better than we did."

Howard, who blasted his 46th homer, said "we have to forget about today, come out and be ready to play tomorrow. It's all going to come down to who wants it the most. I don't think (losing today) had anything to do with pressure. The guy (Chico) came out and kept us off-balance. In those situations we have to try and do better."

Added Manuel: "They (Washington) left a lot of runners on base. We're lucky they didn't score more runs."

The Phillies, who started the season 4-11 and overcame a devastating series of injuries, finally caught the slumping Mets on Thursday night, then went a game up on Friday.

New York was poised to become the first team in baseball history to lose a division title by blowing a seven-game lead with 17 to play. Since they held that lead on Sept. 12, they'd gone 4-11 before Saturday's blowout. The Phillies, on the other hand, had won 12 of 15 games.

"As bad as it was today, we still have tomorrow," said shortstop Jimmy Rollins. "We've got a game to win."

Rollins said the mood of the team after the loss "was the same mood it was after any loss. We'll go out there tomorrow and try to put it behind. The only thing is we have one game left.

"We've been eliminated a couple of times on the last day, why not break doing that tomorrow. That would be fitting, especially the way our season has gone —having to wait and wait and not make things easy all year long. We shouldn't expect it to be easy at the end."

In 2005, the Phillies were eliminated on the final day. Last year, they were knocked out on the next-to-last day of the season.

Sunday, 44-year-old Jamie Moyer (13-12) will face Washington's Jason Bergmann (6-5).

In New York, future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine (13-7) will oppose the Marlins' Dontrelle Willis (10-15).

"I look at this going into it with a positive mindset, be focused and prepared," said Moyer. "I'm sure there will be a lot of electricity and excitement here. I think it's more nerve-racking being in the stands than pitching. It's not going to be easy, but I'd rather have the uniform and be doing it."

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