Victories masking Phillies' trouble zones

CHARLIE MANUEL saw a lot of things that will stick in the darker recesses of his mind even after the Phillies muted them with a 4-3 victory over the Red Sox that sounded plenty of uplifting notes.

There was Ben Revere breaking in on a line drive that ended up sailing well over his head for a triple, there was Domonic Brown colliding with Jimmy Rollins on a shallow pop fly, there were runners left standing like middle school dancers along a gymnasium wall. Manuel does not like these things, and he has bemoaned them throughout this stop-and-start Phillies season. But even he had to admit that all of these flaws become a lot more manageable - and a lot less noticeable - when his hitters are making solid contact.

That's what they did last night, and the result was a second victory in three games over a Boston team that entered the week as one of the early World Series favorites in the American League.

The star of the show was again the player who plenty of fans had given up on at various points in his much-hyped yet slow-to-start career. Dom Brown hit a home run off of John Lackey in the second inning to tie the game at 1-1, and he added another in the eighth off of Koji Uehara to give the Phils an insurance run that would prove pivotal. It was his third straight game with a homer; in the last five games, he has five. In the last 26, he has 10, and in that stretch he is 29-for-101 with 21 RBI. Brown now has 13 home runs on the season, one fewer than Justin Upton, one more than Bryce Harper. He is hitting .262 with a .298 on-base percentage and .519 slugging percentage for an .817 OPS that passed Chase Utley for the team lead.

Brown became the first Phillie to homer in three consecutive games since Ryan Howard did so in four straight from Sept. 19-22, 2012.

But Brown had help. From Erik Kratz, who hit his sixth home run of the season, this one off of Lackey. From Howard, who hit his seventh, also off of Lackey (it snapped a streak of 61 consecutive at-bats without a home run, the third-longest drought of his career). From Kyle Kendrick, who bounced back from a couple of rough outings to hold a potent Red Sox lineup to two runs on four hits and three walks in six innings. And from Mike Adams, the once-ailing setup man who 2 days ago labored through a 30-pitch outing in Boston. The veteran righthander showed some of his best stuff of the season, striking out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect eighth inning.

"When you can hit, that erases a whole lot of mistakes," Manuel said. "And also when you win the game, they don't get exposed as much, or people don't talk about them as much."

For much of the season, the mistakes are all that fans of this Phillies team have had to focus on. But they are once again knocking on the door of .500, a place they have not visited since they were 6-6. They'll attempt to get there tonight, when the Phillies and Red Sox finish off this unique four-game home-and-home interleague series. At 26-27, they maintain hope that they have weathered the worst of what this season has to offer, although to prove it they will need to build on this current span when they are 12-9 against an intimidating stretch of opponents.

"We've kind of been up and down," said Kendrick, who improved to 5-3 with a 3.27 ERA. "Hopefully we can get in a good rhythm, a good groove and run off seven, eight, nine, 10 in a row."

Second baseman Chase Utley is still at least 2 to 3 weeks away from returning from a right oblique strain, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. . . . Catcher Carlos Ruiz (right hamstring) is progressing, and will begin a running progression in the next few days, although he is still likely 3 to 4 weeks away from a return . . . Triple A first baseman-leftfielder Darin Ruf has been battling a bruised right thumb . . . Third baseman Michael Young will miss at least three games after being placed on the bereavement list for an unspecified family emergency. Second baseman Cesar Hernandez was promoted from Lehigh Valley to take his place on the roster.

Today on PhillyDailyNews.com: Zambrano ready? Not so fast, Phillies say. Also, Marcus Hayes says it would be a mistake to rush Cesar Hernandez to the big leagues.