"It feels good, but not because it happened against them," said Rowand, whom the Phillies acquired in a trade with Chicago for Jim Thome after the 2005 season. "It was great to do that just because we won the ball game and swept the series so we can get closer to the Mets and Braves.
"I don't have any ill will toward anybody in that organization. Kenny [Williams, Chicago's general manager,] felt he could better the team by getting a guy like Thome. I know how much he wants to win."
So does Rowand. The victory improved the Phillies to a season-best four games over .500 at 35-31. They moved within 21/2 games of the first-place New York Mets, who played the Dodgers last night in Los Angeles.
This is a team that started the season 4-11. The Phillies were 81/2 games back on June 2.
Rookie righthander Kyle Kendrick replaced injured righthander Freddy Garcia in the Phils' rotation and pitched well in his big-league debut. In six innings, he allowed six hits and three runs. He left the game with his team trailing, 3-2.
The Phillies made it 3-3 in the sixth. Jayson Werth, who made a spectacular diving catch with two outs in the fifth to save at least one run, hustled to beat out an infield single to start the inning. Wes Helms, who hit his first homer of the season in the second, followed with a single to center to move Werth to third.
Rowand stepped in as a pinch-hitter and bounced out to third to plate Werth and tie the score.
"I was already running when I hit it," Werth said of his infield hit to shortstop. "It was a splitter with two strikes. I've done that a number of times in the past where I hit something off-speed over there and beat it out. It's just something I do."
