Unsere Wuffis » ton and Milwaukee. They also swept Atlanta o

PHILADELPHIA -- Here come the Philadelphia Phillies a tad too late. Pinch-hitter Grady Sizemore hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning, helping the Phillies beat the NL East-leading Washington Nationals 8-4 Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep. Marlon Byrd hit a two-run homer and Jimmy Rollins hit a solo shot to back Kyle Kendrick (7-11). The right-hander allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings. The last-place Phillies went 7-2 on their best homestand this season. "Were scoring runs, starting pitching has been good and the bullpen is putting up zeroes," Kendrick said. "Everyone is doing their jobs." Denard Span was 3 for 4 and fell a triple short of the cycle for the Nationals. Doug Fister (12-5) allowed a season-high 10 hits and five runs -- four earned -- in 5 2-3 innings. The Nationals had won 12 of 13 before losing three in a row in Philadelphia. They still have the best record (75-57) in the NL and a comfortable 6 1/2-game lead over Atlanta in the division. "We always have the same approach, win or lose," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "We look forward to the next one. We know if we do things correctly, we have a good chance to beat the other team." Byrd started Philadelphias rally in the sixth with a leadoff single. Domonic Brown lined an RBI double to right-centre to cut the deficit to 4-3. Two outs later, Sizemore drove an 0-2 pitch into the right-field seats for a 5-4 lead and his first career pinch homer. "I fell behind, just trying to put a good swing on it," Sizemore said. "With two strikes, just looking to battle and protect." Fister left after hitting the next batter, Ben Revere, with an 89 mph fastball on his right arm. Revere went down in pain, but stayed in the game. Byrd connected off Ross Detwiler in the seventh for his team-high 24th homer. The Nationals took a 3-2 lead in the third when Jayson Werth singled in Span, who led off the inning with a double. Span ripped a 427-foot homer off the railing in the second deck to make it 4-2 in the fifth. It was Spans second homer this season in his 512th at-bat. Rollins hit a towering drive into the right field seats for his 17th homer to cut it to 2-1 in the first. Chase Utley followed with a single to centre. He scored when Span misplayed Ryan Howards single. The ball rolled past Span for an error and Howard ended up on second. Howard added an RBI single in the eighth, finishing 3 for 5. TRAINERS ROOM Nationals: 1B Adam LaRoche was back in the starting lineup after being held out due to back tightness on Tuesday. He went 0 for 4. Phillies: OF John Mayberry Jr. (right wrist) is expected to be activated when rosters are expanded Monday. RHP Mike Adams (shoulder) is rehabbing at Triple-A Lehigh Valley and hopes to pitch in September. UP NEXT Nationals: RHP Jordan Zimmermann (9-5, 2.93) starts the opener of an interleague series at Seattle. Felix Hernandez, the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner, goes for the Mariners. Phillies: RHP David Buchanan (6-7, 4.21) starts the opener of a three-game series at the New York Mets on Friday night. Hes 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA against the Mets. GRAB THE BROOMS The Phillies only have six sweeps this season, but two have come against division leaders Washington and Milwaukee. They also swept Atlanta on the road in July. Their last sweep over the Nationals was Aug. 24-26, 2012 in Philadelphia. NATS STATS The Nationals fell to 63-8 when scoring four runs or more. ... Span was 0 for 8 in the series before busting out of his slump. He leads the NL with 50 multi-hit games. ... Fister has lost consecutive starts for the first time this year. CELEBRATING MONE The Phillies honoured Mone Davis and her Taney Dragons teammates on a day the city gave them a parade downtown. Davis, who was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated after becoming the first female pitcher to win a game in the Little League World Series 68-year history, and her 11 teammates each threw out a first pitch to 12 Phillies players. The Dragons represented the mid-Atlantic region in the World Series. They won their first two games before being eliminated, losing to Las Vegas and to eventual U.S. champion Chicago. AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Brad Keselowski rolled into Phoenix International Raceway a year ago locked into a tight championship battle with Jimmie Johnson, and left the track poised to claim his first Sprint Cup title. Back at the track where his fortunes turned, Keselowski is a mere spectator to this years title fight. "Im relaxed, but not in a good way," he admitted. "Id much rather be fighting for a championship, everyone can agree with that." Instead, its Johnson, again, in the mix. The five-time champion leads Matt Kenseth by seven points -- the same margin Johnson held over Keselowski at this stage last season -- heading into Sundays penultimate race at Phoenix. Barring some sort of collapse by both drivers, it will be either Johnson or Kenseth who claims the Sprint Cup trophy following next weeks finale at Homestead. And with that, Keselowskis reign will come to an official end. Some will say he went out with a whimper. In failing to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, Keselowski wasnt eligible to defend his title. But hes proud he defeated five-time champion Johnson a year ago -- a feat only he and Tony Stewart have accomplished since 2006. "To me, knowing the playing field and how it all works, its something I take a lot more pride in than if I didnt understand the playing field," Keselowski said. "Obviously, that team is immune to the cycles that everyone else is, and to beat them is a very large accomplishment in this sport. Whether that was Tony the year before me, and then myself, they are just a great team and it takes a clutch effort to beat them. Im proud of the fact we were able to deliver last year." Keselowski did get some assistance in winning his title from Johnsons own misfortunes. At Phoenix, Johnson blew a tire and finished 32nd. Keselowski finished sixth and had a comfortable 20-point lead going into the finale, where Johnson had a mechanical failure. Keselowski took some of the credit for Johnsons issues, claiming he toyed with Johnson during practice at Phoenix -- a notion Johnson dismissed Friday, "I dont even remember that. What did he do?" But Keselowskis idea of toying with Johnson was never letting up, and running him hard every session. He doesnt believe combating that type of attack is Johnsons strength, and Kenseth would be wise to take that approach the next two weeks. "For (Johnson), I wouldnt want to have to race somebody that is going to race me hard because that is not their wheelhouse. That was one of our strengths last year," Keselowski said. "If I was going to give Matt a piece of advice, Id say run the hell out of him every timme you can.ddddddddddddRun (Johnson) hard because thats his weakness." Keselowski believes it contributed to Johnsons tire problem at Phoenix that ultimately gave him the points lead. "He drove the car too hard until it blew out a tire," Keselowski said. "You could look at it and say that was a tire failure or whatever. Those in the garage, who know how the cars work, know it was reaching too hard and the failure that was caused from that. Thats that groups weakness." Thats not how Johnson recalled it when asked about Keselowskis version of events Friday. He said to go ask Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards -- the drivers Johnson has beaten for titles -- how hard he races before conceding that Keselowski was simply better than he was at Phoenix last year. "We race hard. Thats not a weakness of ours by any stretch," Johnson said. "Last year here, they were better than us, for sure. We worked real hard to play catch-up through the course of the weekend. Sure, we had a tire failure, and, yes, we overworked the tire. We created an issue ourselves. "We love to race hard. Thats what were here to do. Im not the best at putting up the fastest lap, the best at qualifying, the best at topping the speed charts in practice, but look at the fastest cars on the racetrack -- Im good at racing. Thats my sweet spot." What Keselowski has proven to be good at is rankling feathers, and even though hes not in this title race, he has remained relevant in this Chase because of a large personality and a commitment to speaking his mind. So there was no chance he was going to step aside quietly, especially not after Johnson crew chief Chad Knaus last week said that Kenseth is a "more formidable" opponent this year than Keselowski. Knaus made the remark following Johnsons win at Texas, where the crew chief said Kenseth "is a little more controlled. Hes a little more mature. Hes been in the sport for a long time. I think hes just a little more even keel, so that makes him a little more challenging to get off kilter." Keselowski didnt hear it, but learned of Knaus remark later. Hes giving Knaus the benefit of the doubt, but the remark clearly struck him. "Maybe the emphasis should be put on respecting what Matt has done and not disrespecting where Im at," Keselowski said. "Im not really sure what exactly he was trying to get at, so I guess Ill give him that benefit of the doubt. Either way, it doesnt take anything away from what we were able to accomplish last year and what I think we are able to accomplish in the future, even if we havent this year." ' ' '