• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Nolasco, Willingham lead Marlins over Phillies

Sep 11, 2008 - 2:42 AM By Vince DiGregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- If the Philadelphia Phillies are not careful, they may find themselves eliminated from the National League wild card race before long.

Josh Willingham snapped an eighth-inning tie with a one-out RBI double and Ricky Nolasco pitched 7 2/3 solid innings as the Florida Marlins handed the Phillies a 7-3 defeat in the rubber match of their three-game series on Wednesday.

The Phillies (79-67) fell 3 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Mets (82-63) in the NL East Division and dropped four back of the Milwaukee Brewers (83-63) in the chase for the wild card. New York outlasted the Washington Nationals, 13-10, on Wednesday.

Philadelphia hosts a four-game series against Milwaukee beginning Thursday.

With the game tied 3-3 in the eighth, Luis Gonzalez and Mike Jacobs bounced starter Brett Myers from the game with singles that put runners on the corners with one out. Chad Durbin came on and surrendered a ground-rule double by Willingham down the left field line, scoring pinch runner Brett Carroll with the go-ahead run.

"I got into a good hitter's count and I just missed (hitting a 3-0 pitch)," Willingham said. "At 3-1, I'm just looking for something to hit hard. I'm not really trying to change my approach. I actually hit in the perfect spot, right down the line. It turned out to be a big hit for us."

Florida added three more runs with two outs in the ninth on a two-run double by Dan Uggla and an RBI single by former Phillie Wes Helms.

The Marlins have taken nine of 15 meetings with the Phillies this season.

"There's no explanation on why we've had some success against them," Uggla said. "It's just the way that it has gone this year."

"Everybody in the NL East is tough," Myers said. "It's our job to play them tough."

Nolasco (14-7) notched his third win of the season against Philadelphia. The righthander has allowed nine earned runs in 27 1/3 innings over four starts vs. the Phillies this year.

"I've been throwing well against these guys," Nolasco said. "I just try to get ahead (in the count). You can't fall behind against these guys. That lineup over there can hurt you real quick."

In this one, Nolasco gave up three runs, seven hits and a walk while striking out eight.

"Ricky has done a really good job for us all year," Willingham said. "He's been very, very consistent. You've got to win those games when your starting pitcher does that."

Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez agreed with Willingham's assessment of Nolasco's outing.

"Nolasco set the tone for us," Fredi Gonzalez said. "He did what he's been doing. I think he had only one walk and pitched deep into the game."

Myers (9-11), who entered with a personal four-game winning streak, has been the Phillies' best pitcher since July 23. The righthander was 6-1 with a 1.55 ERA prior to Wednesday, second only to the Brewers' CC Sabathia during that span.

While Myers was not as dominant in the series finale, he pitched 7 1/3 effective innings, allowing four runs and eight hits with a walk and nine strikeouts.

"I had good-enough stuff to pitch into the eighth inning," Myers said. "I feel that everybody, including myself sometimes, presses too hard to try and make up ground (in the division) in one game instead of just going out and having fun with the game."

Ryan Howard gave the Phillies a 1-0 advantage when he led off the second with his 42nd home run of the season. Howard blasted a 1-1 pitch off the facing of the second deck in right field.

The Marlins moved ahead in the third. With one out, Hanley Ramirez walked before Luis Gonzalez lined a 2-0 offering into the right field seats for a two-run blast that put Florida in front.

Nolasco increased the margin to 3-1 in the fourth with a two-out RBI single that scored Dallas McPherson, who led off the inning with a double.

"As starters, we've got to capitalize on those kind of things whenever we can," Nolasco said. "Just went up there trying to find a hole, and I did."

The bottom of the Phillies' order ignited a two-run rally in the fifth that knotted the contest. Batting in the seventh spot, Greg Dobbs singled and scored on a double by Chris Coste, who came home three batters later on Jayson Werth's base hit.