Phillies Show Marlins How It's Done

If anyone wants to know the difference between the Phillies and the Marlins, look no further than last night's game at Land Shark Stadium.

Both teams had opportunities to win the game when the game was tied at 4. The Marlins had theirs in the ninth inning, and the Phillies had theirs in the 12th inning.

After Wes Helms' hit tied the game in the eighth inning, the Marlins had couple of runners on base with no outs, and with Greg Dobbs struggling to throw strikes, the Marlins had to like their chances.

The home team came up short with Jorge Cantu flying out, Cody Ross striking out and Ronny Paulino grounding out to end the threat.

The Marlins could not get anything going in the extra innings, and that gave the Phillies a chance to win as their heavy sluggers were batting in the 12th.

Jimmy Rollins singled and moved to second on Shane Victorino's out. Chase Utley drove Rollins home to give the Phillies a 5-4 lead, and then they added an extra run when Jayson Werth's single sent Utley home.

This tells the story about two teams right there, and why the Phillies have taken the first two games of the series.

The Phillies' lineup is good; not to mention they have hitters that know what they are doing when they are at the plate, which is why their situational hitting is better than the Marlins. Plus, they got guys who can drive the ball out of the park.

The Marlins' lineup don't do any of those things. They have only two good hitters in Ross and Hanley Ramirez, while the rest are still learning on the job while some are too inconsistent.

Even after the Marlins failed to execute in the ninth inning, they could have tied it in the 12th after the Phillies took the lead.

The Phillies trotted out Brad Lidge to close the game, and with the way he has pitched all season, this game was far from over.

Lidge showed why he is not having a great year when he struggled with his command, which resulted to the Marlins having Paulino and Jeremy Hermida drawing walks with one out.

Chris Volstad's bunt moved both runners one base, but Lidge had only one more out to go.

Lidge's wild pitch sent Paulino home to cut the deficit to 6-5, but that's all the Marlins could do, because the struggling Dan Uggla grounded out to end the game.

No question the Marlins are a young team, but at some point, when do they grow up and start applying to what they have learned all season in situational hitting?

The players have had enough at-bats to know when to execute in these spots. Is it too much to ask sometimes come through in a big spot like last night?

Not only should the Marlins regret not getting it done in the final inning of the game, but they should be disappointed that they did not win the game in the ninth inning.

Any time a team has the first two men on with no out and fail to score, that's inexcusable, especially with an opportunity to win the game in the team's final at-bat.

It's great the Marlins came back to tie it, but no one is going to remember it because they did not win the game. It's about results.

Right now, the Phillies have shown the Marlins why the defending World Series champs are not up at night worrying about their competitors.

This loss is devastating because the Phillies can take the series by either winning tonight or tomorrow afternoon. Losing three of four would put the Marlins in a huge deficit, and this is not what they envisioned when they started the four-game set.

The only way the Marlins can make the most out of this series is winning the next two games, and getting a split.

They are six games out of first, and the last thing they need is to be seven or eight out after the weekend is over, so there has to be an sense of urgency on this team to start figuring it out about their situational hitting woes.

Right now, the Phillies are outsmarting the Marlins in getting victories, and it's easy to see why.