The  Philadelphia Phillies have sole control of first place in the NL East division, thanks to a brilliant performance from pitcher Brett Myers, coupled with another impressive offensive showing. The Phillies extended their winning streak to five games, scoring an astounding 60 runs over the stretch.

Despite scoring 12 runs on the evening, including multi home run blasts by Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, Myers was the star of the show. After getting into some major trouble in the first inning, leading many frustrated fans to believe that this was just going to be another poor outing by the beleaguered star, Myers settled in and shut down the potenet Marlins offense, striking out 11 on the night.

It was Myers’ first win since April 17th against the Houston Astros, a gem similar to tonight. Myers once again showed that he is capable of being the dominant top flight pitcher that many thought he would be. Myers gave up three runs on three hits and two walks in the first inning, but only gave up another three hits and one walk the rest of the game. It was the first time he went seven innings or more since May 5th, and only the 5th time all season.

The question that needs to be asked is: what was different?

For starters, the fast ball is back, and Myers was able to locate it.

“He got away from throwing inside and standing hitters up and getting them away from looking away,” Manuel said. “If you just throw 95 percent the pitches away, eventually they are going to start looking out there. Also there are times where he would throw mostly breaking balls, cutters and changeups and he would not throw his fastball over the plate. He would just use it for show. When he started moving his fastball around – in and out – he got into it.”

After the first inning, the Fish were unable to figure out anything. According to a comcastsportsnet.com article by staff writer John Finger,

After Luis Gonzalez singled home the last two runs for the Marlins, Myers dominated. He retired 14 of the next 16 and 23 of the 27 he faced to cap off a stellar, eight-inning performance. During one stretch from the third to fifth innings, Myers whiffed five hitters in a row in the middle of a streak where he sat down eight in a row overall. And just to show it wasn’t a fluke, Myers struck out the last four hitters he faced before exiting after eight innings.

The Phillies, on the other hand, continue to crush the ball. Ryan Howard and Christ Coste led the way with three RBIs each, each hitting three run home runs. Utley belted his league leading 18th home run of the season, and outfielder Shane Victorino knocked in two of his own.

Tellingly, the Phillies were able to score 10 of their 12 runs off Florida starter Mark Hendrickson, who came into tonight’s game with a record of 7-2 and a 4.14 ERA. He left the game after only 3 2/3 innings with an ERA of 5.26.

The catalyst to the Phillies’ recent success has been Utley, who is the symbol of consistency. Over the past week, the all star second baseman has hit 4 home runs and 15 RBIs.

The Phils look to hold their first place lead on Saturday with ace Cole Hamels (5-3, 3.18) going to the mound against Ricky Nolasco (4-3, 4.70).