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Phillies Brush Away Braves

Maybe the magic elixir is the National League, after all.

The Phillies took a quick 5-0 lead thanks to a string of hits and a couple home runs, then held on until the offense could blow it open in the ninth for an 8-3 win. Kyle Kendrick went six innings for the win â€” he’s now 8-3. He pitched well enough to grab a deserved win, and yes, it was â€” say it with me â€” a Kendrickian start.

The offense was the story … finally. They rattled off six-consecutive hits in the third inning, including a two-run laser-beam home run from Shane Victorino. He had four RBI. Geoff Jenkins contributed two hits to the effort, a double and single. All of the first six hitters in the lineup had two hits.

Pat Burrell also hit a homer, his 20th of the season. The Phils put it away in the ninth with a Victorino single. Before that, JC Romero and Tom Gordon did their jobs â€” albeit with small difficulty â€” to hold onto the lead. Brad Lidge pitched an easy ninth to sweep up the Braves. A good win, absolutely, and thankfully.

Associated Press photo

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.