BASEBALL IS NOT a sport for the reactionary, a reality that the Phillies impressed upon the fans who braved a precipitous 24-hour temperature drop to catch last night's 5-3 win over the Marlins.

There was Shane Victorino, derided for his ill-conceived attempted steal in the ninth inning the night before, going 4-for-5 with a key first-inning double. There was Jayson Werth, who entered the night with two hits in his last 27 at-bats, knocking a double to right-center and scoring a run in the eighth. There was Joe Blanton, one-fifth of a much-maligned starting rotation, throwing seven scoreless innings and striking out a career-high 11.

And, yes, there was Brad Lidge, trotting into a suddenly tenuous situation in the top half of the ninth and retiring his final two batters with the go-ahead run at the plate.

"For whatever reason," said Lidge, who rebounded from his two blown saves over the weekend, "it felt like last year."

All of it made for a brilliant case-study of how fast fortunes can change when a round bat and a round ball are involved. The Phillies, losers of 13 of their first 21 home games, improved to 25-19 using a formula that they only recently have employed with regularity: strong starting pitching, plus timely hitting, plus a dominant setup man and closer.

The hitting came early, thanks to a double by Victorino that put runners on second and third with no out in the first inning. The situation would eventually translate into three runs, one on a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Howard, one on a sacrifice fly by Raul Ibanez, and one on an infield single by Pedro Feliz.

That left the game on the sturdy right arm of Blanton, who entered the night plagued by big innings yet confident in the way he was throwing the ball. Last night, that confidence translated into results, as Blanton pitched out of what little trouble he faced by staying aggressive and employing a slider that bedeviled the Marlins' young lineup. Twice he retired opposing starter Andrew Miller with two outs and runners in scoring position, once with the bases loaded in the second and once with men on first and second in the fourth.

Perhaps his most impressive inning came in the sixth, when he allowed a leadoff single to Jorge Cantu before striking out John Baker, Dan Uggla and Cody Ross in succession to end the threat. Heading into the night, opposing batters were hitting .381 against him with runners on base. Last night, they went 1-for-7.

"I just tried to take it one inning at a time and stay focused the whole game and not have that inning where it gets away from you," said Blanton, whose 11 strikeouts eclipsed his previous career high of 10 set in August of 2005 while a member of the A's. "The past couple starts it has been one inning biting me, and I really just tried to reset my focus every inning and stay locked in and not let that happen."

Blanton's performance capped the Phillies' most successful trip through the rotation this season, a stretch in which all five starters pitched at least six innings and went a combined 3-1. The Phillies have held their opponents to three or fewer runs in four of the last eight games, and have emerged with a victory each time.

Meanwhile, the lineup continues to hit, sparked by a different hero each game. On a cool night when the ball traveled like it was lead, Victorino had four hits, while Feliz went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI.

"When we do those things, we are going to be great," Victorino said. "It's nice to get that out of Joe tonight and to see our starting pitchers come around. You give them credit. It was just a matter of time, I look at it that way . . . Hey, it's so early in the season. This team just finds a way to keep plugging along. Hey, we're a good team. We're not defending champs for no reason."

One of the biggest reasons they are defending champs entered the game with one out and runners on second and third in the ninth inning. Lidge walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, but recovered to get Jeremy Hermida to ground out and Wes Helms to strike out.

A throwing error by Ryan Howard allowed two runs to score with Scott Eyre on the mound, but Lidge limited the damage.

"For whatever reason, I just felt tonight I knew it was going to be the way it was," Lidge said. "I felt like any bad run or anything that has happened is over." *

For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.