Person, Phillies Top Braves, 4-1

On a day when the Flyers suffered an ugly end to their season, and the Sixers were upset in the opener of their playoff series, the Phillies were almost an afterthought.

"I don't think anybody cared about us today," Larry Bowa joked. "I'm a little disappointed. I want those teams to do good."

Thanks to Robert Person and some timely hitting, the first-place (still!) Phillies beat the Braves for the second straight night with a 4-1 victory.

Person (2-1) allowed just six hits and struck out seven but issued five walks and constantly worked his way in and out of trouble.

Atlanta had at least one runner on base in every inning, but stranded 14 and was held under five runs for the 13th consecutive game. The Braves have scored just 26 runs in that span.

Travis Lee got the Phils on the board in the fourth with a solo home run to right, his first of the season.

"I was looking for a pitch to hit," Lee said. "I didn't know what he was thinking. He's a magician. I knew he didn't want to walk me. It was a fastball right down the middle."

Lee hit just one homer in 180 at-bats with the Phillies last season. This was his first homer in 77 at-bats since last Sept. 21.

"It's no big deal," said Lee, who is 4-for-11 with two homers off Maddux. "You always want to hit homers, drive in runs, but if I can get on base, get some walks, I can help the team."

The Phillies scored their second run in the fifth on a botched squeeze attempt by Doug Glanville. Marlon Anderson doubled to start the inning, went to third on a sacrifice by Person and scored when Jones hit him in the back with a throw during a run down after the Braves pitched out on the squeeze try.

In the seventh, Lee scored on an RBI single by Rob Ducey. Glanville followed with an RBI double to give the Phils a 4-0 lead, and that was plenty given the way their bullpen is pitching.

Wayne Gomes and Rheal Cormier combined to pitch a scoreless seventh inning and Ricky Bottalico only allowed a walk in the eighth before turning it over to closer Jose Mesa.

Mesa allowed one run on two hits but struck out the final two batters to preserve the victory.

Person outdueled Greg Maddux (2-1), who allowed four runs -- two earned -- and seven hits while striking out six in seven innings.

"I try not to think about it, but I know I'm limited to the smallest amount of mistakes I can make when Maddux is pitching," Person said.

Chipper Jones was 2-for-5 and drove in Atlanta's only run with an RBI double off Mesa in the ninth.

ComcastSportsNet.com