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Phillies need to win to stay alive for playoffs

Sep 30, 2006 - 2:03 PM Philadelphia (84-76) at Florida (77-83) 1:25 pm EDT

MIAMI (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Phillies need to continue winning, but even that might not be enough at this point.

The Phillies have to win to keep their season alive Saturday afternoon, when they hook up with the Florida Marlins in the middle contest of a season-ending, three-game series.

With two games to go, Philadelphia trails Los Angeles and San Diego by two games for the National League wild card berth. While the Dodgers and Padres technically are tied for the NL West lead right now, Los Angeles holds the tiebreaker by virtue of head-to-head record.

The Phillies kept the pressure on their opponents Friday with a thorough 14-2 pounding of the Marlins. Pat Burrell belted two homers, Shane Victorino went 5-for-6 with three RBI and Jimmy Rollins had two hits and scored three runs.

Philadelphia will give Saturday's nod to Randy Wolf (4-0, 5.24 ERA), who has not lost in 11 starts this year and has won nine straight decisions dating to May 9, 2005. The lefthander, who still is building up his stamina from "Tommy John surgery," yielded two runs in 5 2/3 innings Monday but did not factor into a 5-4 setback vs. Houston.

In 18 career starts against the Marlins, Wolf is just 3-12 with a 6.08 ERA. He made his season debut against them on July 30, giving up three runs in 4 1/3 innings of an eventual 11-5 triumph.

Florida counters with Scott Olsen (12-9, 3.97), who had allowed three runs or fewer in six straight outings before getting rocked by Philadelphia on Sunday. The rookie lefthander was charged with seven runs - three earned - in 2 2/3 innings, yielding a career-high three homers in the 10-7 defeat.

Olsen is 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA in five lifetime starts against the Phillies, with all but one of those outings coming this season.