Although they won, the Phils’ NL East lead remained at 4 1/2 games over the 2nd place Atlanta Braves who also won.  The 3rd place Mets kept pace with the Phils at 9 1/2 games back by again pounding Detroit while the 4th place Washington Nationals dropped to 11 games back after being shut out by the L.A. Angels.

The AP game recap provides Wednesday’s highlights:

Worley (3-1) allowed one run, five hits and struck out five. The rookie right-hander has filled in nicely for injured starters Roy Oswalt and Joe Blanton.

Worley dusted [Dustin] Pedroia with a high-and-tight fastball inside in the first inning and left an impression with his solid performance.

“He had great mound presence, and we were all very impressed,” Pedroia said. “It’s really good for a kid that young to have a presence like that on the mound. He’s going to be a good one.”

In a series billed as a World Series preview, the major league-leading Phillies (51-30) have taken two straight and go for a sweep Thursday.

Ibanez was 3 for 3 with two RBIs, falling a triple short of the cycle. He came in 5 for 44.

John Lackey (5-7) gave up two runs and eight hits in 7 2-3 innings in one of his best starts this season. He lowered his ERA from 7.36 to 6.81.

Desperate to wake up a slumping offense, Boston manager Terry Francona gave Adrian GonzalezDavid Ortiz could play first base. Ortiz hadn’t started the previous four games because there is no designated hitter in NL parks. his second career start in right field so

It didn’t work. Big Papi was 0 for 4.

“Did that guy just come up or something? Man, because he looked pretty good to me,” Ortiz said of Worley. “He had decent stuff, and it really looks like he’s been around for a long time.

“They’ve got four big starters here, right? Well, he looked like one of them out there tonight. He really looked comfortable. It’s obvious that he’s listening to those big starters over there. It’s rubbing off on him.”

Gonzalez didn’t have any putouts in his first game in right since 2005. He went back to the wall and leaped for a ball hit by Chase Utley in the eighth, but it bounced high off the railing and went for a triple.

Ibanez gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the second with an RBI single.  Shane Victorino led off the inning with a double down the left-field line. He scored when Ibanez hit a hard liner to left-center.

The Red Sox tied it at 1 in the fifth on Lackey’s fourth career hit.   Josh Reddick singled with one out and scored on Lackey’s two-out double. Lackey was 3 for 36 with one double and one RBI in his career before hitting a 3-2 pitch to deep left-center.

Ibanez put the Phillies up 2-1 when he led off the bottom of the seventh with a drive to the seats in right.

“He works hard and he stays at everything,” Manuel said.

Michael Stutes pitched a perfect eighth and Antonio Bastardo finished for his third save and first filling in for Ryan Madson.

For all of Wednesday’s scores and recaps, click here.

The Phils hope for a series sweep with Thursday’s series final, but it won’t be easy.   Two fine lefthanders duel as Cole Hamels and Jon Lester each go for their 10th win.

The Phils next head for Toronto for a 3 game series with the Blue Jays beginning on Friday.   Then they head to Florida for a 3 game series beginning on Monday July 4th.

For all Thursday’s scheduled games throughout MLB, click here.

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Although they won, the Phils’ NL East lead remained at 5 games over the 2nd place Atlanta Braves who also won.  The 3rd place Mets kept pace with the Phils at 9 games back by pounding Detroit while the 4th place  Washington Nationals dropped to 10 1/2 games back after a drubbing by the L.A. Angels.

After 1st baseman Ryan Howard singled to leftfield to lead off the second inning, was rubbed out at 2nd on Victorino’s fielder’s choice grounder, and after leftfielder Raul Ibanez went down on strikes on 3 pitches, rookie rightfielder Brown worked Beckett to a 2-2 count before ripping a 2 run right centerfield homer to give the Phils and Lee an early 2-0 lead,   Brown, who had been 4 for 34 in his previous 10 games and chastised by both manager Charlie Manuel and the fans for not running hard on a couple of plays in the Oakland series, got back on everyone’s good side by nailing his 5th homer.

But Brown wasn’t finished.  He led off the fifth inning by doubling to leftfield and took 3rd base on catcher  Carlos Ruiz’s fly out to rightfield.   Lee then plated Brown with a sacrifice fly to leftfield and the lead was at 3-0.

The “Flyin’ Hawaiian’ added some icing in the sixth after 3rd baseman Placido Polanco opened the inning with a single.  2nd baseman Chase Utley bunted Polanco to 2nd base and Howard followed by flying out for the 2nd out.   Victorino worked the count to 3-1 before slamming a 2 run shot to rightfield to cap the Phils’ scoring.

Meanwhile, Cliff Lee was again nothing short of masterful.   The AP game recap for Yahoo sports notes:

Lee didn’t allow a hit until Marco Scutaro led off the sixth with a line-drive single to left-center. He ran his career-best scoreless streak to 32 innings with his ninth career shutout and fourth this year.

“It’s been a good run, no doubt about it,” Lee said. “I’ve had a few in my career, but I don’t look back and compare them. I want to throw a shutout every time out there. I never want to give up a run.”

Beckett (6-3) gave up five runs and five hits in six innings, his worst outing of the season. Beckett entered with a major league-best 1.86 ERA and left at 2.20. He hadn’t pitched because of the flu since tossing a one-hitter against Tampa Bay on June 15.

Darnell McDonald led off the eighth with a double to left, putting Lee’s shutout bid in jeopardy. But shortstop Jimmy Rollins made an outstanding play on Jason Varitek’s hard one-hopper up the middle for the first out. Lee then fanned Mike Cameron looking at a slow curve and retired Scutaro on a grounder to third.

Lee finished with five strikeouts and two walks. He has been sensational since a slow start. The lefty was 4-5 with a 3.94 ERA through May. Since then, he’s 5-0 with a 0.21 ERA in five starts this month.

Lee threw a two-hitter against Florida on June 16 and blanked St. Louis on six hits   He needed 112 pitches to get through this one.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in the game, and he’s riding a hot streak. That is a bad combination for any team to face,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “I haven’t seen all of his starts, but from what I have seen, he’s been quite impressive. He’s working counts, and he’s throwing strikes when he has to. He’s really got it going right now.”

The most popular player on the Phillies, Lee received several ovations from the 180th straight sellout, including postseason play, at Citizens Bank Park.

Following up on an earlier report regarding reliever Ryan Madson, AP reports for Yahoo sports:

The Philadelphia Phillies have placed closer Ryan Madson on the 15-day disabled list with a right hand contusion.

Madson is 3-1 with a 2.03 ERA and has 15 saves in 16 chances.

For all of Monday’s and Tuesday’s scores and recaps, click here and here.

In Wednesday’s game 2, young Vance Worley goes for his 3rd win vs veteran John Lackey for the BoSox.

For all Wednesday’s scheduled games throughout MLB, click here.

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