August 26, 2006
Phillies Rising
With the Reds and Padres losing last night, the Phillies took a 4-3 victory over the Mets to move into a tie for second place in the NL Wild Card race. They're now just 1 1/2 games behind Cincinnati. Ryan Howard delivered his 45th homer of the season to give Philadelphia a 4-0 lead in the third. Randy Wolf gave three of those back over the next three innings, but the Phillies bullpen pitched four 2-hit innings to preserve the win.
The Phillies are now 15-8 in August, the third best record in NL in the month and three games better than the next closest wild card contender, Cincinnati.
Carlos Beltran, with a double and a homer, solidified his MVP credentials. He now has 71 extra-base hits on the season, second in the NL behind Soriano.
What about Howard for MVP? If the Phils make the Wild Card, he'll be a main reason why.