I was in Boston over the weekend along with many others from the Philadelphia-area. I was there for a wedding. But many Phillies fans were there for the Phillies-Red Sox series at Fenway.

Sunday morning I ran into two guys in Phillies shirts catching the 6:45 a.m. Amtrak train from the Back Bay station.

"Tough weekend," I offered.

"Tough month," came the reply.

Sunday afternoon the Phils beat the Sox 5 to 2 to end a three-game skid and salvage something from horrible beat downs Friday and Saturday. Hamels pitched a strong game. Lidge got an away save. Now it's on to the Bronx. A good showing up there seems like a must. It's a long season but the sooner the Phils start hitting, the shallower the hole they will have to climb out of to take back the lead in the NL East.