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The Force and the Phillies

Brad Lidge thought the Force helped the Phillies beat the Braves last night at Turner Field. Hey, whatever works.

It appears Brad Lidge is a Star Wars fan.

That's the only way he could explain last night's improbable 4-3 victory over the Braves at Turner Field.

"If you want things in the season to go good, you need to have some of those 'Force be With You' moments," Lidge said. "The Force was with us tonight."

There was the ball that Kelly Johnson dropped to allow the tying run to score in the top of the ninth. There was Tom Gordon working out of a jam in the bottom of the ninth. There was Chris Snelling's leadoff double, Shane Victorino's triple and Chase Utley's double in the 10th. And then there was Victorino's throw to the plate, which got Gregor Blanco by half a foot to end the game.

"That was awesome, honestly," Lidge said. "Just a weird night. The fact that we were able to tie it up was mysterious, and then we got some runs. (The last play) was so much fun to watch from my perspective. At first I thought there was no way, and then all of a sudden this absolute pea-rod comes in from Shane, on the money and everything. It just was perfect. Like I said, the Force was with us tonight."

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Coste and Victorino on the game-ending play at the plate:

"The throw started out a little bit to the right side of the plate, so I was going to try to catch it and lean into a tag," Coste said. "But the throw actually came back perfect."

"I was hoping that it came back and it did as it got closer to the plate," Victorino said. "It did come back over to give him enough time to catch it and kind of use his momentum to tag out Blanco at home. I just wanted to attack it, knowing he was on second and could run. I said, 'I got to charge the ball hard and get rid of it quick,' and fortunately for us it worked out for the best."

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In the Phillies Notebook, Charlie Manuel liked the fact that Jimmy Rollins faced the press after being benched Thursday.

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Tom Gordon couldn't be a prouder parent these days.

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The Phillies selected former Germantown Academy star Sean Grieve in the 21st round.

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