Last night in Pittsburgh, the Phillies beat the Pirates 17-5 to pull into a first place tie with Atlanta in National League East.  The Phils had a whopping 28 baserunners on 18 hits and 10 walks.  They saw 236 pitches.  At 4 hours and 30 minutes, it tied the NL record for longest 9-inning game in history and was only 15 minutes short of the all-time record!  So certainly not the most crisp game ever but who cares how you reach first place!  The Phils have won 5 straight and their record now stands at 48-37.  They haven't been this far over .500 since 2011, which was the last year they made the playoffs.  They still have issues which need to be addressed if they want to stay in the race longterm but the trade deadline is three weeks away and they have set themselves up to be buyers.  Let's hope they make decisions that will help them reach the playoffs for the first time in 7 years.  Let the scoreboard watching begin!!