Blanton, Homers, beat Cardinals; Wagner Blows Again

Joe Blanton pitched very well to earn his first win as a Phillie. The Phillies won 2-1 as Blanton out dueled Braden Looper. He was supported by solo home runs from Greg Dobbs and Ryan Howard (31). Brad Lidge came in the 9th to earn his 27th save in as many chances.

The Mets had a 4-0 lead on Houston last night but saw the lead diminish to 4-2 going into the 9th. Ex-Phillie and current loud-mouth Billy Wagner loaded the bases and surrendered a 2 run single to Geoff Blum, blowing his 7th save of the year. He got out of the inning. In the tenth, Pedro Feliciano gave up a sacrifice fly to Daren Erstad and the Astros came from behind to win 5-4.

With those 2 games, the Phillies now hold a 1.5 game lead on the Marlins and a 2 game lead on New York. Pitching today is Brett Myers ((4-9, 5.46) for the Phillies and Todd Wellemeyer (8-4, 4.13) for St. Louis. Myers will look to follow up his 8 inning performance with another steller start tonight at 8 PM EST.