Floundering Phillies Fall From 1st Place

Braves beat up Phils 9-3 as Manuel gets the boot

The Phillies offensive woes continued Memorial Day as the streaking Atlanta Braves outslugged them.

Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus homered to back a strong start by Tommy Hanson and help the Braves move into first place in the National League East with a 9-3 victory Monday over the slumping Phils.

The Braves, winners of six straight, are one-half game ahead of Philadelphia, which has dropped two straight and nine of 13.

Improving to 16-4 since May 10, the Braves have made up 7.5 games in the NL East since May 17, when they were in last place. Atlanta hasn't held first place in the division this late in a season since 2005.

Really the only early energy from the Phils came from manager Charlie Manuel who was tossed in the third for arguing a call.

Philadelphia, which was shut out in five of its previous eight games, had just three hits off Hanson (5-3) before the right-hander left with two outs in the seventh. The Phillies then hit three consecutive RBI doubles off Peter Moylan to close the gap.

The same teams meet Tuesday night with lefty Cole Hamels leading the Phightins against righty Tim Hudson.

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