Phils mow down Nats

Chase Utley's snap decision to steal home in the third inning.

The manager's impending decision on whether to pitch Cole Hamels on Sunday against the New York Mets.

The Phillies beat the Washington Nationals, 4-0, last night. It was a drama-free victory for the Phillies, who remained two games behind the Mets in the National League East.

But afterward, the talk centered on Utley and Hamels.

The Phillies have been struggling to score runs in recent months, and Utley saw an opening to tack on another run with runners at the corners and two outs in the third. Utley determined that Nationals lefthander John Lannan had a slow delivery to the plate and when he threw over to first base. So when Lannan threw to first to keep Jayson Werth honest, Utley broke for home.

But Nationals first baseman Ronnie Belliard got rid of the ball quickly. The throw beat Utley to the plate, so Utley dove headfirst into catcher Jesus Flores' upper body to try to jar the ball loose.

It didn't work.

Flores held on for the third out, but he left the game with a sprained left ankle.

"I do feel bad he was hurt," Utley said. "My intentions weren't to hurt him; it was to knock the ball loose."

Manuel loved the play.

"Why shouldn't I? That's the way you play," Manuel said. "I wish every one of my players would play that way. That would be good. Don't say 'old school.' That's good school. That's the way you play the game. Unless you want to put some rouge and makeup and lipstick on you."

Manuel then talked about his decision on Hamels.

The lefthander threw 71/3 scoreless innings to improve to 12-8. He threw 104 pitches.

Can he pitch Sunday on normal rest instead of giving him an extra day off?

"I want to put Hamels on the Mets, and the reason is that it's a two-game swing," Manuel said. "This time of the year, we've got to win some of those games over there in New York."

But Manuel had not made that decision as of last night.

Hamels, who passed 200 innings for the first time in his career, would not say what he prefers.

"I'm not going to give you guys an answer for that," he told reporters.

That situation should be hashed out in the next couple of days.

"I finally surpassed 200 innings. I think that's in their minds," Hamels said of the coaching staff. "It's in my mind. I just want to be able to finish the season. I truly want to be able to go out there and pitch deep into a game but be smart about it. I don't want to overextend myself because if I overextend myself, it's not really going to benefit the team, because they're counting on me for four or five more starts. And that's what I'm really focusing on because I know if I can do that, I can really help this team get into the playoffs."