--RHP Chad Durbin agreed with the Phillies' decision to leave him in the bullpen and not use him to replace demoted Brett Myers in the starting rotation. "I think I'd have been more of a liability than anything," Durbin said. "Me not being stretched out, and with our bullpen going the way it is, I think it was a good decision." And if there was any question that the Phillies made the right call by leaving Durbin in the bullpen, it was answered Friday night. Summoned to bail just-recalled starter J.A. Happ out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the fifth inning, Durbin fanned Mets slugger Carlos Beltran. Then, with the Phillies trailing 2-0, Durbin struck out five of the next six batters and kept the deficit manageable enough for the offense to the game in the sixth against Mets ace Johan Santana. Among his strikeout victims were lefty slugger Carlos Delgado in the sixth inning and the always dangerous Jose Reyes in the seventh. "Jokingly, I guess the planets were aligned," said Durbin, who has a 1.50 ERA in 33 relief appearances. "I'm not the guy to strike out six guys in 2 1/3 (innings). We needed to keep it within one swing of the bat. We needed to stop them from scoring one more."

--CF Shane Victorino was batting only .216 with runners in scoring position when he laced a single to right field to score Pedro Feliz from second base and cap the Phillies' come-from-behind 3-2 win Friday night against the Mets. "It's a big game," Victorino said after being pummeled by teammates in a celebratory huddle at first base. "They're coming after us. Obviously, they want to prove they can stay with us. They want to try to close the gap. To say that we were able to come back against their No. 1 guy, that's big."

--C Carlos Ruiz's slump has stumped even Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, a hitting guru. Ruiz hasn't gotten a hit in 18 at-bats since a fifth-inning single June 18. He doesn't have an extra-base hit since June 13, and his 2-for-29 slump has dropped his average to .208. Even more perplexing: Ruiz, a right-handed hitter, has batted .199 in his career against lefties. "It's strange," Manuel said. "I've always wondered why he struggles against lefties. I think they get the ball in on him with cutters or hard stuff. Then, they take him away, and he tries to pull the ball. From what I saw in the minor leagues, he's a gap-to-gap hitter. I think sometimes he tries to pull the ball too much and hits it on the ground."

--RHP Kris Benson was roughed up in his second start for Class AAA Lehigh Valley. Benson, attempting to return to the majors after shoulder surgery in March 2007, allowed six runs on nine hits, walked two and fanned two over five innings against Pawtucket on Friday night. In four minor-league starts between Lehigh Valley and Class A Clearwater, Benson has allowed 15 runs on 24 hits in 15-2/3 innings for an 8.62 ERA.

BY THE NUMBERS
111 -- Consecutive innings from June 13 through June 28 that the Phillies failed to string together three straight hits. The drought ended during their three-run second inning Saturday night in Texas.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"He's a hard read. What do we do with him in the bullpen? I don't know. If it happens, we'll see. We saw a different animal last year in the bullpen." -- Pitching coach Rich Dubee, on the possibility that struggling starter Brett Myers could be removed from the starting rotation.

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