Phils win, Brewers lose

A week ago we were getting ready to root hard for the Phillies to beat the Brewers. After sweeping Ned Yost out of a job and the Brewers out of the Wild Card slot, we here at SoxandPhils now root for the Brewers to overtake the Mets for the Wild Card. It wasn't a good day on that end: The Mets won their second straight against the Nationals, and the Brewers blew a 6-2 lead in the 9th and lost it in the 12th.

Again, the Phillies paid no attention to the Mets. Cole Hamels was a bit shaky early on, but he hung in there to beat the Braves 4-3. That's seven in a row for the Phils who head into a series with the Marlins who have won eight in a row. I don't think both streaks will be in tact after this series.

On a downer, though, while Hamels' line looks decent, two runs in six innings, it's a little concerning that he gave up runs in the 1st and 2nd innings, erasing the two runs his offense spotted him in the 1st. He's a great pitcher, but my gut thinks I'd rather have Jamie Moyer or Brett Myers out there for a must-win game. We'll see in October.

When Pat Burrell came up in the 6th, I mistakenly thought the Rays were playing on ESPN. I asked Christine to switch the channel to quickly check the score. "I will once Pat Burrell hits a two-run homer," she said.

"No, that's called a double play," I countered.

Burrell then put the Phils up 4-2, and Christine flipped to ESPN, which was showing some college football game.

Standings: Phillies remain a half game up on the Mets, who are 1.5 games up on the Brewers. The Red Sox were off, but snuck up to 1.5 games after the Rays lost an ugly one to the Twins.