After losing three and a half games of their eight and a half game lead over the Florida Marlins in the NL East standings in the span of just a week, the Phillies made up some ground this weekend by winning three of their four games against the New York Mets. Their lead now stands at six and a half games over Florida, who lost two of three to the Washington Nationals this weekend.

The weekend series against the Phillies biggest rival was sealed with a sweep of Sunday’s doubleheader, capped off with saves by Brad Lidge and Ryan Madson.

The real stars of the series were starting pitchers Kyle Kendrick and Pedro Martinez, both of whom were considered to be finished as starters at the major league level earlier this year.

Kendrick went 7 1/3 innings, allowing just two runs on seven hits. Martinez threw eight scoreless innings, striking out seven.

Kendrick left in the eighth inning, having just allowed a two-run home run to Anderson Hernandez, spoiling his shutout, to a standing ovation from the Phillies crowd, who had been very tough on him last year after it became apparent he wasn’t able to pitch at the big league level anymore.

“It felt good,” the 25-year-old Kendrick said of the crowd’s reaction. “The fans were a little hard on me when I was dealing with last year’s struggles, but today was pretty special.”

Kendrick, who went 10-4 with a 3.87 ERA in his rookie season, had a hard time in 2008 with a record of 11-9 to go along with a 5.49 ERA in 30 starts. He eventually lost his starting job and was sent down to Triple-A to try and get himself back to where he was in 2007. It seems as all that hard work has paid off.

“I wanted to be here so bad, especially in L.A., and then we went on to win the World Series and I was still down there” in Clearwater, he said. “That’s when I knew I’ve got to do something. I knew I needed to better my change-up, better my cutter, and once I put my mind to it . . .”

Martinez has similarly found success this season with the Phillies after a tough 2008. After going 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA in 20 starts last season with the Mets, Martinez is 5-0 with 2.87 ERA in seven starts this season with the Phillies. All seven of Martinez’s starts have resulted in wins for the Phillies, with two no decisions for the veteran right hander as a result of lengthy rain delays.

Martinez, who will turn 38 in October, threw 130 pitches over eight innings, the most by any Phillies pitcher this season.

“I feel like 1998, 1999, 2000, because I’m bouncing back pretty good,” said Martinez. “The other day when I threw 119 pitches, I felt so good I was a little surprised, to be honest. I wasn’t sore. Nothing to complain about. Whatever amount of pitches I threw [last night], I feel fine. I don’t know how I’ll feel [today.]”

With two outs in the eighth inning, Mets’ outfielder Daniel Murphy ripped a double to right field, and it looked like that was going to be it for Martinez. Manager Charlie Manuel came out of the dugout and walked to the mound, but didn’t point to the bullpen. He wanted to talk to the future Hall-of-Famer first.

“I didn’t like it, but Chase [Utley] said, ‘He might not get you. He might not get you,’ ” said Martinez, whose ERA dropped to 2.87. Utley “asked me if I wanted the guy, and I said, ‘Yeah, I want him.’ Charlie asked me the same thing. So I convinced him to give me one more out.”

Turned out, Martinez wouldn’t even need to face Jeremy Reed, the next batter, as catcher Carlos Ruiz gunned down Murphy as he was attempting to steal third base. Inning over. Shutout preserved.

The most exciting part of each game came in the ninth inning, something that has become somewhat of a theme for the Phillies this season. Lidge made things interesting in the first game, giving up two runs on his way to his 29 save of the season. Luckily for Lidge and the Phillies, he had a three run cushion to start the inning.

“I’m not trying to lead the league in ERA this year,” joked Lidge. “Maybe next year.”

Madson had much less room to work with, as the Phillies only led in the second game 1-0, as a result of only mustering three hits in the entire game, none after the leadoff batter in the second inning.

Madson allowed a hit and struck out one, preserving the win for his eighth save of the season.