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 …

The injury bug has struck the Eagles again. This time it got the most important player on the roster, quarterback Donovan McNabb, who suffered a cracked rib while rushing for a three-yard touch down in the third quarter of Sunday’s season opener victory against the Carolina Panthers.

After getting tackled in the endzone, McNabb laid on the ground for several minutes before walking off the field on his own power. He immediately headed into to the locker room to get examined by the Eagles trainers. He did eventually return to the field, but did not return to the game. He was seen on the sideline without his pads, at times looking dejected and frustrated, other times he was seen laughing it up with teammates.

“He’s not going to get much sleep these next few days,” said running back Brian Westbrook, who broke a rib last season. “But Donovan’s a tough guy.”

An injured McNabb is nothing new for Eagles fans, but Week 1 is a little earlier than we’ve …

Maybe Sean McDermott’s replacing Jim Johnson as defensive coordinator of the Eagles won’t result in the drop off that many thought it would.

The Eagles trounced the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, 38-10, including five interceptions, five sacks, and a goal line stand with less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles held Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme to just seven completions on 17 attempts for a paltry 73 yards passing. The Eagles intercepted four of Dehlomme’s passes, and sacked him three times. In Dehlomme’s last game, against the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of last year’s playoffs, he gave up a career high five interceptions, bringing his total to nine in two games. Cornerback Sheldon Brown, who spent much of the offseason fighting with the front office over the status of his contract, had two of the team’s five interceptions.

As one person said during the game, apparently Delhomme is French for “turnover.”

The Eagles defense forced two fumbles, and even got in on the …

Cole Hamels, the MVP of the 2008 NLCS and World Series, appeared to be suffering from off-season banquet fatigue for much of the 2009 season, struggling with his command and velocity, unable to pitch deep into games, no longer the dominant ace of a World Series caliber team.

After going 7-7 with a 4.77 ERA through the first week of August, Hamels appears to have since turned it around, returning to the form that made his the undisputed ace of this Phillies staff coming into this season.

In his past six games, Hamels is just 2-2, but has seen his ERA drop 0.56 points to 4.21. He has allowed two runs or less, including two shut outs, in four of those six games. His command has returned. His velocity has returned. And most importantly, his mental toughness has returned. He is not getting rattled as easily as he was earlier in the year. He is forcing it less, and just letting his talent do its thing.

“Most of the …

I am often asked why I am so into sports, or why I believe that sports are so important. “It’s just a game” is a line I hear often.

Days like this are why sport is so important.

Every September 11 invokes a multitude of emotions for me, as I’m sure it does for you. I continually battle within myself the need to pay tribute to not only those who died in the terrible attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Flight 93, but to those people who were directly affected by the attacks. I want to honor their experience while not cheapening it. I did not know anyone who died in the attack and I was not in New York or D.C. during the attack and I did not watch the Towers collapse in person.

But I was just 30 or miles away from Manhattan; I could see the smoke from my campus at Rutgers University; I know several people who were directly, and deeply, affected by the attacks on the Twin Towers; I have personally …

After weeks of “Brad Lidge is my guy” responses by Phillies manager Charlie Manuel to reporter’s questions over the team’s closing situation, it appears that Brad Lidge is no longer the guy. Or at the very least, not the sole guy.

After getting himself into a jam (again) with a two run lead against the Nationals on Tuesday, Lidge was removed from the game in favor of set up man Ryan “Mad Dog” Madson, who did a nice job of locking it down and ending the Phillies’ four game losing streak. It took Madson just six pitches, all strikes, to record the final two outs of the game.

Manuel and the Phillies found themselves in a similar position Wednesday night, with a lead in the ninth inning against the Nationals. This time, however, Manuel completely bypassed Lidge, giving the job to Madson, who came in and preserved the win for the Phillies for his  sixth save of the season.

Manuel has been balancing his unwavering support for …

The Phillies became just the 12th team in major league baseball history to have four players with 30 home runs or more in a season Tuesday night in Washington.

Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez each hit their 30th home run of the season Tuesday, joining Ryan Howard (38) and Jayson Werth (32), who also hit a solo home run against the Nationals. Ibanez started the night with 28 home runs.

The Phillies are the first team since the 2006 Chicago White Sox to have four 30-home run hitters on its roster when Jermaine Dye (44), former Phillies first baseman Jim Thome (42), Paul Konerko (35) and Joe Crede (30) all hit the mark. The feat has been accomplished just 11 other times in major league history.

The Phillies are first or second in the league in home runs, RBIs, total bases, runs scored and slugging percentage. Until they went into their current hitting slump, they led the league in almost every offensive category.

It is Howard’s four straight season with …

After weeks of speculation, Roger Goodell announced Tursday that Eagles quarterback Michael Vick would be reinstated and eligible to play Week 3 at home against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Goodell and Vick met Thursday morning in New Jersey to discuss when he might be reinstated.

Goodell told a room full of reporters that he has been in contact with Vick on an almost daily basis.

“A lot of those issues I’m focusing on are off the field,” Goodell said. “How is he dealing with the transition? … Does he have the right people around him helping him make decisions?”

The announcement allows the Eagles to make a decision on their final 53-man roster, which is due by 6:00 PM on Saturday. They can carry a 52-man roster, or put him on the exempt list. Then they could carry the full 53-man roster, but Vick would not be eligible to practice.

Before signing with the Eagles two weeks ago, Vick has not played or practiced football at the NFL level in almost …

According to several reports, Michael Vick is expected to meet with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Thursday and a ruling on his reinstatement could come as early as Saturday.

According to a source speaking with the Philadelphia Daily News’ Les Bowen, the ruling is expected to come before Saturday’s 6:00 PM deadline for NFL teams to cut their rosters to 53 players. This would allow the Eagles to properly prepare their final roster.

Goodell has previously said that he would make a ruling by Week 6 of the regular season, although many people expected the decision to come before then. While Goodell could suspend Vick for any number of games, or not at all, it is expected that he will miss two games, becoming eligible in Week 3 at home against the Kansas City Chiefs.

If Vick is suspended, then the Eagles will need to decide whether to carry a 52-man roster, or put him on the exempt list. Then they could carry the full 53-man roster, but Vick would …

The Phillies and the San Francisco Giants start a three game series Tuesday that will preview a possible National League Division Series.

The Phillies currently lead the NL East division by 7.5 games. The Giants are tied with Colorado Rockies for the NL Wild Card. The Dodgers lead the NL West division by 5.5 games and the St. Louis Cardinals hold a commanding 10.5 game lead in the NL Central over the Chicago Cubs.

If the playoffs were to start tomorrow, the Phillies would play the Wild Card winner, and the Dodgers and Cardinals would face each other.

The Giants dominated the Phillies over a four game set in San Francisco in late July. The Phillies were outscored 17-10, which is a telling depiction of how the Giants beat you. While their offense is not going to win any slugging titles, it can muster two or three runs a game, which is often more than enough for the Giants’ stellar pitching to get the win.

The series kicks …

The Dodgers, Giants and Rockies all made last minute moves Monday to bolster their teams while the Phillies, who were rumored to be scouting Nomar Garciappara, ultimately did nothing.

The Dodgers, who currently lead the NL West division by 5.5 games, acquired Jim Thome from the Chicago White Sox and Jon Garland from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The 39-year-old former Phillies first baseman, who will likely only see time as a pinch hitter, is hitting .252 with 23 home runs and 74 RBIs in 106 games this season. He has 564 career home runs, but is only 1-19 in pinch hit opportunities in the past two years.

“We’re not bringing him over here to play first base,” said Dodgers GM Ned Colletti, who envisions Thome playing a role similar to that of Matt Stairs with the Phillies in 2008. “We’re bringing him here to come off the bench and be a great influence in the clubhouse. He’s one of the true great guys in …

Omar Gaither has been named the starting middle linebacker for the Eagles, replacing the injured Stewart Bradley.

“I’m going home,” said Gaither, who played middle linebacker in 2007 before losing the job to Bradley in 2008. “I feel like Dorothy. I didn’t click my heels. I got on my knees and did a lot of praying. It’s good though. I’m looking forward to it. I think it will be exciting for me.”

Bradley tore his ACL on August 2 during the team’s “Flight Night” charity practice at Lincoln Financial Field, ending his season prematurely.

Gaither appeared to be the obvious choice to replace Bradley, but the Eagles decided to give sophmore Joe Mays a tryout.

“You try to justify and understand things that happen, but you can’t do that,” Gaither said. “You just have to keep playing. You would think that I would be the guy that would go in there right away, but Joe played well last year, and they felt like he could go in there and do …