Weeklong winning streaks can do that. So can complete game near-shutouts and dynamic debuts.

The Phillies enjoyed all of the above in a 7-1 victory over the Diamondbacks that pushed their season-high winning streak to seven games and kept them 3 1/2 games behind the Braves in the National League East.

The night was dominated by two players, who, a year ago, thought they might be trading places. When the Phillies attempted to trade for Roy Halladay last July before ultimately landing Cliff Lee, Domonic Brown's name was frequently reported in rumors about the deal. But the club was intent on holding onto their top prospect, and over the offseason landed Halladay for a package fronted by top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek.

Rated as one of the top prospects in the game - and the most promising in the Phillies organization since Ryan Howard - Brown wasted little time in living up to those accolades. He ripped the third pitch he saw, a 1-1 slider from Edwin Jackson, off the wall in rightfield for an RBI double that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead. In the sixth inning, he laced a line drive single to right, eventually scoring on a two-run double by Carlos Ruiz. And in the seventh, his sacrifice fly to right scored Raul Ibanez.

"I think they have a bobblehead coming out tomorrow," manager Charlie Manuel said.

The final line: 2-for-3, with two RBI and two runs scored.

It was more than enough for Halladay, who allowed one run in nine innings to improve to 12-8 while lowering his ERA to 2.21.

"I'm glad they didn't trade him," Halladay said with a small smile.

The only hiccup came with two outs in the ninth inning, when Brown tried to make what would have been a spectacular game-ending catch of a sinking line drive by Miguel Montero. The ball bounced past him and rolled to the wall, allowing Kelly Johnson to score from first for the D-backs' only run.

"It flew by," said Brown, who only got the news of his promotion from Triple A manager Dave Huppert yesterday morning. "It felt like I just had Hupp telling me I got called up. I almost passed out. I'm just trying to take it to the next day and keep moving forward."

The Phillies, who are 55-46, have won 10 straight at home, and are 33-18 at Citizens Bank Park this season. But in order to return to their season high of 11 games over .500, last reached on May 21, they'll have to do so on the road, where they begin a three-game series in Washington tomorrow.

Jayson Werth, who moved to centerfield to replace the injured Shane Victorino, went 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Over the last 12 games, Werth is 17-for-39 (.436), improving his average to .294. Ibanez, who went 2-for-3 with a double and two walks, has raised his batting average from .236 to .263 in his last 21 games, going 27-for-76 (.355) with six doubles, two home runs and 16 runs scored.

"It's obviously been a lot more fun here the last little while," said Halladay, who finished his major-league-leading eighth complete game. "It's important that we carry it on the road. Finish up here strong [today] and carry it with us on the road. I think that's going to be a big part of it. We seem to play well here at home lately, and we need to carry that over. But it's been a lot of fun. You'd much rather try to keep a winning streak going than end a losing streak."

Phillers

 

Shane Victorino said he was not sure about how much time he would miss with his oblique injury. Manager Charlie Manuel said he thought the centerfielder would miss about 3 weeks . . . Shortstop Jimmy Rollins missed his second straight game with a deep bruise on his left foot, the result of a foul ball on Monday. His status is day-to-day . . . Rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg is "doubtful" to make his scheduled start Sunday vs. the Phillies, according to a report on the Nats' Web site.

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

http://twitter.com/HighCheese.