Werth

Quick, name the most productive hitter in the Phillies' postseason history? No, not Mike Schmidt. No, not Ryan Howard or Chase Utley, either. It's Jayson Werth. No player in the 128-year history of the franchise has generated more homers, extra-base hits, and total bases in the most important games than the rangy, goateed outfielder. But the big question Sunday isn't whether Werth will ever add to his Phillies playoff totals of 11 home runs, 21 extra-base hits, and 82 total bases.

Excerpts from Monday's Ask Gonzo chat on Philly.com with columnist John Gonzalez: Comment From Vicks PO:  [Will] Michael [Vick] fare well against the Cowboys [on Sunday]? Gonzo: He fares well against pretty much everyone, doesn't he? Joe Theismann said he doesn't think Vick is the MVP. He likes Peyton Manning and Phillip Rivers a little bit better for the award. Manning and Rivers both lost on Sunday. Theismann might want to reconsider his position. Comment From Chris: Saw Rasheed Wallace on South Street Saturday night.

Suddenly, all has seemed to right itself in Phillie-land: Jimmy Rollins is once again the offensive sparkplug of your local nine. The defending world champions just finished feasting - at home, no less - on the New York Metropolitans. And Jayson Werth continues to chisel away at the Daily News' promotional budget. Werth's leadoff home run in the third inning of the Phillies' 7-2 victory over the Mets on Friday night won $1,000 in the Home Run Payoff Contest for Percy Brown, of South Philadelphia.

IT COULD HARDLY be set up better. The Phillies have won seven in a row. They won yesterday's game over the visiting Nationals, 7-6, with a four-run rally in the ninth, finished with a walkoff, two-run homer from their crucial righthanded bat. So, the second-place Braves enter the Bank tonight three games behind instead of two, which means they cannot overtake the Phillies in the NL East with a sweep of the series. While the Phillies rallied, the Braves were in the visitors' clubhouse at Citi Field in New York, where they had just completed a sweep of the Mets.

THIS IS NOT Jayson Werth's fault. It is entirely reasonable to expect that he will unfunk himself pretty soon and hit about .280 the rest of the way with reasonable power numbers from the right side. Even 24 hours ago, it made sense just to wait this thing out, this Great Phillies Malaise of 2010, and allow the law of averages to do its powerful work - on Werth, on all of them. No longer, though - not since Jamie Moyer grabbed his elbow in the first inning on Tuesday night in St. Louis.

MIAMI - Sometime around the seventh inning last night, the disembodied loudspeaker voice in the press box at Sun Life Stadium made a startling allegation. Somewhere, perhaps buried beneath the orange blanket of empty seats that circles the field, there were 20,616 people who paid actual currency to watch the Phillies defeat the hometown Marlins, 11-4, and maintain their one-game lead in the National League East. To the naked eye, there were barely enough witnesses to get the game notarized.

ALLENTOWN - A year ago, John Mayberry got the ultimate news for a minor-league baseball player: "Son, you're going to the show. " And what a show he put on May 23, 2009, at Yankee Stadium. The Phillies outfielder went 2 for 3 with three RBIs. His first major-league hit was a three-run home run off lefthander Andy Pettitte, a possible future Hall of Famer. Two innings later, he doubled off Pettitte. The son of a former major-leaguer by the same name made it look so easy that afternoon in front of a national television audience.

WITH a mixture of hope and fear, Broad Street Billy walked into Chickie's and Pete's on Packer Avenue near the sports complex, took a deep breath of the beer-marinated air, and felt that the joint was electric with high hopes. And when Brad Lidge got the final strikeout of the Phils' 4-2 win over the Giants in Game 5 of the NLCS last night, the jam-packed bar exploded into a red sea of dancing, screaming, heartfelt joy. "I've got no more voice," said Joe Weber of Merion Station, "but I just want to say, players with heart never give up. Anyone who questioned the heart of this team never played ball.

LAST NIGHT at the Bank, Kelly Bloor, 29, a graphic designer from Fishtown, sat in the first row of Section 333 with her brother, John, just like they did for the Roy Halladay no-hitter. Bloor may have been the first of the 45,000-plus Phillies fans to sense that Doc was pitching himself into history because it was her third no-no! She saw Kevin Millwood no-hit the Giants, 1-0, at the Vet in 2003, and Jon Lester's no-no at Fenway Park against the Royals in 2008. "My brother and I started seriously thinking 'no-hitter' when [Jayson]

Ryan Howard loves to hit in September, and the Phillies love that he loves to hit in September. "Why even question it?" Howard said after he hit a game-winning home run in the eighth inning last night in an 8-7 victory over the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field to move the Phillies into first place in the National League East. "I don't know why it's a good month for me. Maybe it's the races heating up. " The races are heating up, and Howard is turning up the heat on the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers.

The Washington Nationals' hatred for the Phillies is coming in waves. After triggering a lopsided Washington win over the Phillies with a three-run home run Saturday at Nationals Park, outfielder Jayson Werth directed his venom toward his former team's fans Monday because of the way they reacted when he suffered a broken wrist in Sunday night's series finale. "After walking off the field feeling nauseous knowing my wrist was broke and hearing Philly fans yelling, 'You deserve it' and 'That's what you get,' I am motivated to get back quickly and see to it personally those people never walk down Broad Street in celebration again," Werth wrote in an e-mail response to a question from the Washington Post.

WASHINGTON - Washington Nationals right fielder Jayson Werth broke his left wrist Sunday night trying to make a sliding catch against the Phillies. "It's a clean break," Washington manager Davey Johnson said after the Nationals' 9-3 loss. "He's going to be out for a while. " Johnson said Werth will see a specialist to evaluate the injury. Werth was injured in the sixth inning. The right fielder's glove got caught underneath him, and he bent his wrist backward trying to grab Placido Polanco's sinking liner.

JAYSON WERTH, RF Nationals Why him: Obviously needs to be more productive than last season (career-worst .232 batting average), especially with cleanup hitter Michael Morse dealing with a strained muscle in his back. Quote to note: "This is home for me now vs. coming in last year; didn't really know what to expect and didn't really know anybody," Werth said. "Now I feel like this is my team and I am part of the action here. It is going to be a good couple of years.

The Phillies have two more days of exclusive negotiating rights with their own free agents, and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. made it clear Monday that he would prefer to strike deals with shortstop Jimmy Rollins and closer Ryan Madson before they hit the open market. "We'd love to keep them off the market if we can do it," Amaro said. "We've had discussions with the agents of both players. " That, of course, does not mean the Phillies are close to signing either player, but it shows that the team very much wants to retain its shortstop and closer, at the right price.

Braves 4, Rockies 1 ATLANTA - Freddie Freeman homered twice to drive in three runs, Tommy Hanson combined with two relievers on a four-hitter and Atlanta beat Colorado, Freeman's two-run shot in the first inning drove in Brian McCann, who singled with two outs off Ubaldo Jimenez (3-8). The rookie first baseman hit his 11th homer in the eighth off Matt Reynolds. Jimenez was facing the Braves for the first time since throwing a no-hitter at Turner Field on April 17, 2010. It was the first no-hitter in Rockies history.

This is the sort of return the Washington Nationals are expecting for their huge investment in Jayson Werth: The moxie to pull off a steal of third in the 10th inning at a time when his every mistake has been generating boos. Moments after he stunned the ballpark by swiping the bag, Werth was crossing home plate with arms raised, his teammates headed his way to celebrate. Werth had scored on a wild pitch, and the fans who had been so hard on him the last few days were cheering his daring move in a 5-4, Fourth of July matinee win over the visiting Chicago Cubs.

WASHINGTON - Omar Infante used a clever slide to score on Greg Dobbs' double in the 11th inning, giving the Florida Marlins a 6-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Friday night. On a night of spectacular plays, Infante made the most important one. With one out, he singled off Brian Broderick (0-1), then came all the way around on Dobbs' drive to right. The ball beat Infante to home plate and Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was in position to make a tag, but Infante slid head-first and reached over and around Ramos to touch the back tip of the plate for the go-ahead run. The Marlins, who have won seven straight in Washington, could have gone ahead in the fifth but Roger Bernadina made a sensational catch to keep it tied.

The Nationals are showing some resiliency at the end of a road trip. Ian Desmond hit a tiebreaking, two-run double in the 11th inning, Jayson Werth followed with a two-run homer and Washington beat Atlanta, 7-3, last night. After losing three straight at Citizens Bank Park to open a nine-game road trip, the Nationals (18-18) have climbed back to .500 overall by winning four of five, including the first two games of the three-game series with the Braves. The win in the 11th was set up by a two-run rally after the Braves led 3-1 in the ninth.

Jayson Werth knew what was coming. He had seen it, lived it, loved it, admired it, and marveled at it - the unvarnished passion of Philly fans - so he knew that the lively crowd at Citizens Bank Park would have something special for him Tuesday night. He was the villain for taking an ungodly sum of money to play baseball in Washington instead of staying in the baseball utopia that Philadelphia has become for considerably fewer dollars and years. Werth got that. The fans were mad he left.

THE IMAGE of the Philadelphia sports fan as a little over the top, quick to find fault and just as quick to express that displeasure with long and loud boos, occasionally obnoxious and always hyperopinionated is absolutely true. It's also only half the story. We are just as extreme in the opposite direction. When players and teams show heart and hustle and grit and determination, mirroring the lunch-pail image the region has of itself, the resulting adulation is all out of proportion as well: Fred Shero, before the Flyers won their first Stanley Cup: "Win today and we walk together forever.