Phils head home after sweep by Braves

ATLANTA - It happened in a matter of seconds, as these things often do. One moment, Pedro Feliz is at the plate in the eighth inning of a tie game, and Jayson Werth is on third base ready to run with two outs, and a high 2-2 pitch from Mike Gonzalez is bouncing off the webbing of Brian McCann's glove and caroming to the backstop.

The next, McCann is whipping a throw, and Werth is sliding headfirst into home, and Gonzalez is swiping his glove and umpire Mike Everitt is hovering above it all, poised to make a call that could very well decide the outcome of the game.

And then . . .

Out.

It might not have been the decisive play in the game - Matt Diaz' RBI double off Ryan Madson in the bottom of the eighth took care of that, sparking what would end as a 5-2 Braves win - but Gonzalez' tag of Werth to preserve a tie game summed up this recent stretch of Phillie futility: Even when everything seemed to go right, it somehow ended up wrong.

"That's momentum," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "They stopped us . . . That's momentum. That turns the whole game, the outlook of it, the whole energy level, the whole brightness of it."

After it was over, and the Phillies had concluded a 3-6 road trip, they found themselves with a 39-37 record and a tie with the Marlins for first place in the National League East. The three-game sweep at the hands of the Braves, their first at Turner Field since April 2005, left them without sole possession of first place for the first time since May 30, when they trailed the Marlins by a half game. It also pulled the Braves to within two games, and the Mets, winners over the Pirates earlier in the day, to within one. Suddenly, the Phillies aren't only playing for first place this weekend against New York at Citizens Bank Park, but for second and third as well.

"I think it's a good thing we play tomorrow," said lefthander J.A. Happ, who battled through seven innings, allowing only two runs and getting a no-decision. "I think we're going to have a lot of guys eager to get to the ballpark, get back on track."

Hope was very much alive for the Phillies as they entered the eighth, despite another frustrating offensive performance in what has become a very long line of them. Happ did an impressive job of holding the Braves to two runs, both of which came on a Casey Kotchman home run in the fourth inning.

In the second inning, he allowed a leadoff double to Yunel Escobar, then a single to rightfield by Diaz to put runners at the corners with no out. After striking out Jeff Francoeur on a 3-2 pitch, he walked Kotchman to load the bases with one out. After striking out opposing starter Javier Vazquez, he got Gregor Blanco to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

In the seventh, the Braves had runners at the corners with two outs and the game tied at 2-2 when Happ got Chipper Jones to fly out on a 3-1 changeup. Manuel said he contemplated pulling Happ in that situation, but decided to let him face the test.

"I figured, now is a good time to let it be his game," Manuel said.

Happ, who has now allowed two runs in 16 innings over his last two starts, passed the test, and the Phillies found themselves in position to take the lead with two outs in the eighth when Werth walked, stole second, then advanced to third on a throwing error.

With Feliz at the plate, Gonzalez unleashed a pitch that sailed high, bouncing off McCann's glove and shooting to the backstop. Werth broke for home, but McCann reached the ball in a hurry, then tossed to Gonzalez, who sprawled across the plate and caught Werth just before his hand touched home.

Manuel had no doubt that the correct call was made.

"He was out," the manager said.

The Phillies, meanwhile, are out of Atlanta with three straight losses, three more than they lost all of last season at Turner Field. They have lost 14 of their last 18, scoring fewer than three runs in eight of those games. Madson took the loss, allowing three runs in the eighth, the fifth time in his last seven appearances he has given up at least one run.

"We're not hitting, we're not scoring runs, we're not producing very much offense," Manuel said.

The offense they did muster came in the sixth, when Vazquez allowed a leadoff single to Chase Utley, then hit Werth with a one-out pitch. Utley scored on a double by Greg Dobbs, who finished 2-for-3, and Werth reached home on a groundout by Feliz.

The only other offensive highlight came from Jimmy Rollins, who snapped a careerlong 0-for-28 slump with singles in the third and fifth.

"Tonight, Happ did a heck of a job, and we didn't score," Manuel said. "That's kind of how we play. Our game is not together. I've been saying it now for 2 or 3 weeks. We're all screwed up. The nights that we pitch, we don't hit. The nights that we pitch, we don't hit. We lose games late . . . There's no possible way you can win if you don't play consistent baseball." *