One game at a time

That's all the Phillies can do right now, just win one game at a time. And behind Cole Hamels, they did just that tonight. Phillies 4, Nationals 0.

Hamels pitched the way you expect your ace to pitch in a situation like this: 7.1 innings, five hits, three walks, six strikeouts, no runs. The bullpen handled the rest, shutting down the recently surging Nationals lineup. It would not be a surprise to see young Cole matched up against Johan Santana on Sunday night. The Phils seem to be coy about it; would they really throw J.A. Happ out there? After Hamels' relatively low pitch count tonight (104), I would expect to see him in the big game.

But that's getting ahead of things. As I said, one game at a time. Get another win against the Nationals tomorrow night, and then take care of the Mets this weekend.

Stealing home: I love plays like this. But somehow, I always seem to miss them. I'm in the other room or I look away from the TV for a moment, and then something good happens. So I was psyched when I thought Chase Utley was going to steal home tonight. Instead, he was tagged out and took out Jesus Flores. The catcher tried to stand up after the play but buckled down. He was on the ground for quite a while before the trainers wrapped his ankle and he was driven off the field. Right now they're saying it's only an ankle sprain and that there are no signs of a break. If so, then Flores is a lucky man because it looked really bad.

In Boston: The Red Sox took care of business and beat the Orioles 14-2. They also won Monday night's game.

Standings: The Phillies are currently 1.5 games behind the Mets, who are tied at 5 with the Brewers in the 9th.

I'm sure Greg was internally cheering for the Yankees, as they beat the Rays 7-2. The Sox are now four games out of first. The Wild Card lead is four games over the White Sox/Twins.