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Streaking Phillies continue NL East playoff chase

Sep 22, 2007 - 1:22 PM Philadelphia (84-70) at Washington (68-86) 7:05 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - Less than two weeks ago, the playoffs appeared to be an unrealistic goal for the Philadelphia Phillies. Now, one of baseball hottest teams continues their four-game set with the Washington Nationals on Saturday.

The Phillies, who trailed the National League East-leading New York Mets by seven games as recently as September 12, have won eight of their last nine games to move to within 1 1/2 games of the division leaders.

Hoping to continue the momentum, Kyle Kendrick (9-4, 4.05 ERA) will look to become the first rookie to reach the 10-win mark - Milwaukee's Yovani Gollardo is also vying for that honor. He received the win on Monday in a 13-11 win over the Cardinals, yielding three runs and seven hits over six frames.

In two lifetime outings vs. the Nationals, the righthander is 0-1 with a 5.56 ERA.

His opponent will be Tim Redding (3-5, 3.73), who will look to end a four-game winless streak. He allowed four runs and six hits over four innings to record his second straight no-decision in a 12-4 win on Monday. In four career starts, the 29-year-old righthander is 2-1 with a 3.24 ERA against the Phillies.