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Phillies are fastest to 50 losses

But they come back in the second game of a doubleheader to defeat Washington.

THE BEST NEWS for the Phillies is that there is no baseball draft lottery. If you are the worst team one year, you will get to select the No. 1 amateur player the next year. The Phils are on their way.

A day after the Cardinals became the first team to win 50 games this year, the Phils became the first team to lose 50. They did manage to avoid doing something they had not done this year - lose twice on the same day in an old-school doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park that began at 1:07 p.m. and ended at 8:01 p.m.

Washington won the first game, 3-2. The Phillies, with 15 singles and a double, won the second game, 8-5. Second baseman Cesar Hernandez, getting all the run now that Chase Utley is on the disabled list, got six hits (4-for-4 in the second game) and stole three bases.

Interim manager Pete Mackanin, apparently uninterested in spin or terribly worried about anything but seeing the game played correctly, was succinct in his description of the first game. It included five hits from his team and more follies in the field, highlighted by a passed ball that looked suspiciously like a wild pitch from Jake Diekman that allowed what turned out to be the winning run, a messed-up force play at third and a double dribble in rightfield by Jeff Francoeur, who was "the" offense with a home run and a run-scoring single.

That won't do when you are facing the good Stephen Strasburg, a former No. 1 draft choice himself. And the Phillies got that, the Nats' starter going seven innings, striking out nine, walking one and throwing 113 pitches.

"That's as well as I've seen him pitch in a couple of years," Mackanin said. "He used his breaking stuff and threw it for strikes. He still had his good velocity. He pitched better than we've seen him in the past, especially this year.''

When you can't hit, you better catch.

"Overall, I'm disappointed in the mental aspect of our defense,"' Mackanin said.

As for Diekman appearing in the sixth inning, Mackanin said it was "because I'm not entirely comfortable with him later in the game."

Domonic Brown did not start the first game against the righthanded Strasburg because, "Brown doesn't have numbers for me to justify playing him against a righty or a lefty.''

Brown did eventually get into the first game and started the second game. He had an RBI single at the end of a four-run, six-hit Phils second inning. The 4-0 lead did not last long.

Ian Desmond's three-run, 453-foot bomb to center in the fourth got it close. The Phillies, incredibly, had their second four-run inning of the game in the bottom of the fourth.

Third baseman Maikel Franco ended his minislump (0-for-8 after the two five-RBI games in New York) with three more hits and three RBI (all in the second game).

"I feel confident," Franco said. "I just try to be in the right position and try to do the best I can."

Mackanin was not surprised by Hernandez's performance.

"We always felt he was going to hit," he said. "He's got some pop in his bat and he's got a good idea at the plate."

The key, Mackanin said, is playing time and confidence, which go together.

Severino Gonzalez, up from Triple A Lehigh Valley to pitch the second game necessitated by Saturday's rainout, gave the Phillies a chance on the mound while getting his first career RBI in the second (on a fielder's choice) and, later, his first career hit, a single to start off the fourth. He got the win, the second by a Phils starter this month. He was optioned back to Triple A right after the game.

"Here's a kid, we're asking him to help us out," Mackanin said. "He pitched very well. He hung that slider to Desmond and got burnt on it. In general, he pitched well.''

He also gave up a home run to Jose Lobaton, but struck out seven and walked just one in 5 1/3 innings.

"I like the way he attacks the zone, I like the way he pitches quickly," Mackanin said.

Gonzalez is not an ace, the manager said, but Mackanin thinks he can be in a big-league rotation.

What did the native of Panama think of his performance?

"The times that he's been hurt the pitches have been up so he needs to concentrate more on pitching down," Gonzalez said through translator Juan Samuel.

Jonathan Papelbon got the save, his 16th straight and 30th out of 31 chances dating back a year.

The attendance was 27,126. There were maybe a few thousand left when Papelbon threw the final pitch.

Only 85 games to go.