The doubleheader split allowed the Phillies to move within a half-game of the first-place Atlanta Braves, who dropped a 3-1 decision across the state in Pittsburgh.
The second-game offensive surge started with a leadoff single by Jimmy Rollins, who had been dropped from first to fifth in the batting order by manager Charlie Manuel because he was not producing as the leadoff man.
Manuel, in fact, addressed Rollins' offensive slide after the first game. At the time, the Phillies' shortstop was in a 4-for-34 tailspin.
"I see his swing comes and goes," Manuel said. "He has a good night and then he has two or three nights where he doesn't hit the ball real good. He has been inconsistent. That's kind of what I see."
It's too soon to declare that Rollins has escaped his offensive malaise because he went hitless in his next three at-bats, but at least he started something big in the second. Raul Ibanez followed Rollins' leadoff single with one of his own and Sanchez self-destructed with consecutive walks to Domonic Brown and Carlos Ruiz, forcing home the Phillies' first run.
By the end of the second, Shane Victorino and Chase Utley had sandwiched RBI singles around a two-run double from Placido Polanco, and an offense that could not score a single run through eight innings of the Game 1 loss suddenly had given starter Roy Oswalt a 5-1 lead.
Oswalt, as it turned out, needed that support because he had his least effective start since losing in his Phillies debut July 30 against Washington. Mike Stanton and Cameron Maybin hit solo home runs off Oswalt and Hanley Ramirez followed a two-out walk in the third with a two-run homer that just cleared the fence in left field.
