Phillies Rally For Fifth Straight Win Over Marlins, Move into Tie For First

Sure, the season's barely a week old and five of the first eight games have been played against the Florida Marlins, but in the wake of another come-from-behind win over the Marlins it seems Doug Glanville is doing a little scoreboard watching.

When told Tuesday night's 7-6 win moved the Phillies into a tie for first, Glanville tipped his hand.

"Oh," the centerfielder said. "I guess Montreal lost, huh?"

Coming off a 3-for-4 night, with his second homer of the season and three RBIs, it's OK if Glanville checks out the standings. Even with five of the team's six wins coming against one team, the Phillies seem to be feeling good about themselves. New manager Larry Bowa's mantra of winning building confidence has taken hold with his young players.

"When you start to feel good, you think you can always come back," Glanville said. "That's the way the Braves and Mets work; they know they have nine innings to get it done so they don't feel any anxiety if they fall behind early. That's the way we're feeling now."

But scoreboard watching? On April 10?

"Sure, why not," Glanville said.

Tuesday's other hero Scott Rolen, who busted out of a 0-for-19 slump with a homer and a two-run double, was a little more succinct.

"I don't know if I've ever been in first place," he said.

After Montreal's 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs Tuesday, which drops them to 6-2, he is. However, after the first four innings in the Vet, it looked as if the loss wouldn't cause any harm. Then again, these Phillies seem to have a penchant for falling behind early and then, dramatically, nipping the Marlins in the end.

Meanwhile, Bowa is starting to look like a genius. After preaching, day in and day out, since the first day of Spring Training that a little bit of success would completely change the team, it looks like it's working.

"They feel real good about themselves," Bowa said. "Against this team we know if we hang in there we'll make it interesting."

But if you're a Marlins' fan, these games against the Phillies aren't interesting at all. In fact, they're starting to get a little old. In five games, the Phillies have beaten the Marlins by one run four times and three of those wins came with the Phils getting the go-ahead run in their last at bat. In Tuesday night's game, the drama unfolded just as it had the night before.

Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth, the Phillies started a methodical comeback that didn't end until David Newhan scored with the winning run on Jimmy Rollins' sacrifice fly in the eighth. In between, the Phils played fundamentally sound ball by moving runners over and getting solid relief pitching.

"They don't quit," Bowa said. "They execute and they don't give teams four or five outs an inning."

Unlike last year, the Phillies don't get down when they fall behind early. This year, Glanville said the team doesn't feel any anxiety when they fall behind. Rolen said if the team can stay close, they'd put something together.

"If we stay within two or three runs, we have a shot," Rolen said. "We're pretty sure we can tie it up with the lineup we have."

Glanville got the comeback started with a homer to leadoff the fifth off Vic Darrensbourg and Rolen got off the schneid with another solo shot two batters later. In the Florida sixth, Derek Lee hit a solo homer off reliever Chris Brock to make it 5-2, but the big inning was on its way.

Glanville ripped a one-out, two-run single to right to make it 5-4. After a two-out walk to Bobby Abreu, Rolen smashed a double to the corner in left to give the Phils its first lead, 6-5. That lead was short-lived, however.

Rheal Cormier started the seventh and gave up a leadoff walk to Luis Castillo. The next batter, Eric Owens, hit a liner that was heading for the gap in right before Abreu came up with a sliding catch to save a run and halt a potential big inning. An out later, though, Preston Wilson tied it up with a double to left.

It stayed tied at 6 until the eighth when pinch-hitter Newhan greeted Marlins closer Antonio Alfonseca with a lead-off with double and was bunted over to third by Glanville ("Bowa said, 'get him over. I don't care how you do it,'" Glanville said.). Rollins lifted a 0-2 fastball to deep right to chase home Newhan and to turn it over to closer Jose Mesa in the ninth.

Mesa faced four batters in the ninth to pick-up his third save.

For the Phils, the team battled back after starter Amaury Telemaco, who earned the No. 5 spot in the Phillies' rotation by posting a 2.25 ERA this spring, struggled in his first start. He allowed four runs and seven hits in four innings.

Johnson gave Florida a 3-0 lead on a three-run homer in the first -- his first of the season. Castillo made it 4-0 with a RBI triple in the fourth.

Wayne Gomes (1-0, 0.00) notched the win in relief, pitching the 1 1/3 and giving up one hit.

Equally important, the Phils' gold-glove third baseman drove in some runs in a win. During his 0-for-19 skid that lasted throughout the homestand, Rolen was hitting the ball hard but not finding any holes. His first hit at the Vet this season didn't have to find any holes since it bounced off the blue seats in left-center.

"It's just a matter of time with him," Bowa said.

Rolen was quick to give credit where credit was due, which in his case is his dog Enis.

"It feels nice to have some feeling of success since I haven't done anything the last four games," said Rolen, who joked that his dog helped him break the slump by making him relax. "I was trying to keep a positive frame of mind out there but it's difficult when you continue to fail.

"I started settling in after I thought of Enis," Rolen said of his dog. "He brings me to a better place."

Maybe Enis is scoreboard watching too.

Notes: The Phillies had six infield singles, including a bunt hit by Marlon Anderson. ... Five of Rolen's six hits this season are extra-base hits. ... Meanwhile, the team has loaded the bases in six straight games and seven of the eight this season. So far, they are 2-for-10 with the bases juiced this season. ... Pat Burrell struck out two times and has fanned 17 times in 31 at-bats.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com