SAN FRANCISCO -- Jimmy Rollins refuses to concern himself with all the teams chasing the Phillies in the NL wild-card race. If Philadelphia keeps winning, he knows things will fall into place perfectly.
"We know we're in the lead, there's no secret about that," the shortstop said. "We've got to make sure we keep it that way. We feel it's ours to lose, or should I say theirs to win. We don't sit around looking behind us."
Bobby Abreu had three hits and drove in two runs, and the Phillies extended their wild-card lead to 1½ games with a 7-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night.
Robinson Tejeda, moved from the rotation to the bullpen until Philadelphia next needs its fifth starter in early September, pitched two scoreless innings for the victory after starter Cory Lidle left in the fifth with a strained left side muscle.
Going from starter to reliever is nothing new for Tejeda, who insists he doesn't care when he pitches.
"It's no big deal," he said. "You have to do the same thing and get location on the ball and throw strikes."
A night after pounding out 16 hits in a 10-2 win, the Phillies added 14 more to take the series after losing the opener 5-0 on Monday. David Bell and Kenny Lofton each added three hits and Chase Utley had two hits with an RBI.
Abreu drove in the Phillies' first run with an RBI single in the first and he capped their scoring with a run-scoring single in the eighth.
Phillies rookie Ryan Howard drove in a run on a groundout, but went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts after getting a career-high four hits with a home run and three RBI Tuesday night. The first baseman helped with a crucial play in the seventh when reliever Ryan Madson got Ray Durham to ground into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
"The one thing I didn't want was a double play," Durham said. "He made his pitch. He beat me inside. They throw tough guys at you. In the seven, eight, and nine, it's tough against them. You've got to get them early."
Lidle fell behind 2-1 after San Francisco got three hits in the first inning -- as many as it had in Tuesday's game -- but contributed with his bat the next inning as Philadelphia briefly retook the lead.
Bell singled and Mike Lieberthal doubled, then Lidle hit an RBI single to center. Lofton singled in a run two batters later and Utley followed with a sacrifice fly.
Lidle gave up a run on a wild pitch in the second, allowing Mike Matheny to score from third despite a diving attempt by the pitcher to tag him at home.
Lidle, replaced by Tejeda (4-3) to start the fifth, is expected to miss his next start. He felt a pain in his side taking a warmup swing in the fifth. Manager Charlie Manuel expects him to be sidelined 10-14 days.
"It's not good, but I don't know how bad it is," Lidle said. "Anything I do with twisting, I'll probably feel it."
Billy Wagner worked the ninth for his 31st save.
Giants starter Brad Hennessey (4-6) struggled through five innings, allowing seven of his 10 hits and four of his five runs in the first two innings.
"I got behind a couple guys and I made some high pitches," said Hennessey, who took a shutout into the eighth last Friday at St. Louis. "I've got to do a better job keeping the ball down."
He gave way to Jason Christiansen, who had his own problems in this crazy game.
The left-hander took a scary tumble at first base in the sixth trying to take the relay from first baseman J.T. Snow, which Christiansen couldn't stop for an error that allowed Lofton to score. He stayed in the game.
Moises Alou tripled leading off the third for the Giants, his first since last Sept. 15 while with the Chicago Cubs. He scored on Durham's groundout to tie the game at 4.
Randy Winn singled to left leading off the Giants' half of the first for career hit 1,000, then stole second. But San Francisco didn't get a baserunner past first base in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Manuel believes it will take 88 to 90 wins for the NL wild card. His team has 69 with 34 games to play.
"At the start of the season, I thought it might be 92, but now looking at it, someone could win with 88 games," Manuel said. "It might take less."
Aside from the strike-shortened 1995 season, when teams played a 144-game schedule, no team has won a wild card with fewer than 88 wins. In 1996, the Orioles won the AL wild card with 88.
