Pettibone Solid Again, Phillies Top Nationals

    The Phillies beat the Nationals tonight 5-3 in front of all 300 of Washington's fans.  A miniature late inning rally, matched with Chad Durbin actually not allowing runs for a change allowed the Phillies to head home with a win tonight.

This is a dog.  Read onward!

    Jonathan Pettibone got the start tonight and was solid yet again, tossing six innings while allowing 3 runs on 9 hits.  Pettibone continues to keep the Phillies in a position to win in each of his starts, which is great to see for a Phillies pitcher not named Cliff Lee (or currently, Kyle Kendrick).
    Antonio Bastardo came on in the seventh and recorded the first two outs before handing things over to Chad Durbin.  Yes, in a tie game the Phillies brought in Durbin, and he pitched two-thirds of a scoreless inning, a nice surprise.  Jeremy Horst was next to hit the mound, pitching two-thirds of a scoreless inning as well before handing things off to Jonathan Papelbon who pitched a scoreless ninth to notch the save.
    It was a bit of a back and forth game, as the Phillies hit back to back solo home runs in the second inning courtesy of Dom Brown and Erik Kratz to take the lead.  The Nationals tied the game at 2-2 before a Jimmy Rollins double in the fifth gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead, albeit a short-lived one.  The Nationals tied things right back up in the bottom half of the frame on a solo home run.  In the top of the eighth, Delmon Young singled home a run followed by Dom Brown bringing home an insurance run on an RBI double to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead.  Brown continues to improve, and went 2 for 4 on the evening with a double, his ninth home run of the year, and 2 RBI's.
    The Phillies now head to tomorrows series finale against the Nationals, looking to take the series win.  Cole Hamels will get the start and be opposed by Stephen Strasburg.