By Steven Goff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Several hundred Philadelphia Phillies followers rolled into RFK Stadium last night, tantalized by the thought of their ballclub's first playoff appearance in 13 years. They chanted "MVP!" each time home run leader Ryan Howard approached the batter's box, they awaited scoring updates on the Los Angeles Dodgers' game in Denver and, when the Phillies scored two quick runs, they could not help but believe this three-day stopover would not disrupt their postseason march.

Ryan Zimmerman and a quintet of Washington Nationals pitchers ruined their evening, and with the Dodgers winning, dented their chances.

The third baseman enhanced his rookie of the year credentials with three hits and three RBI, reaching another milestone along the way, and the Nationals escaped a potential Philadelphia home run that was called foul and a ninth-inning scare with Howard to earn a 4-3 victory over the Phillies before 18,960, the smallest home turnout since July 5.

Having already scored a run against closer Chad Cordero in the ninth, Philadelphia sent Howard to the plate with two outs and a runner on first.

Manager Frank Robinson went to the mound for a chat with Cordero. His message: "You created the situation, get yourself out of it."

Cordero did just that, using a fastball up and in to retire the MVP candidate on a lazy fly ball to Alfonso Soriano in left field.

"Sometimes when [Robinson] does come out, he's not real happy. Luckily this time, that wasn't one of them," said Cordero, who added that intentionally walking Howard was not a consideration. "I just tried to go right at him."

Howard, hitting .416 with 15 homers in his last 32 games, did have two singles against starter Ramon Ortiz, the first one driving in Philadelphia's first run.

"We try to make pitches on him, we try to be careful with him, but you can't be afraid to try to pitch hitters to a weakness that you think they have for a chance to get them out at this level," Robinson said. "We were lucky tonight."

The Phillies did not waste any time getting to Ortiz, scoring twice in the first inning, but repeatedly failed in their efforts to extend the early advantage and left eight runners on base through five innings. Ortiz, in his finest effort since his near no-hitter early this month, allowed two runs and struck out six in six innings.

"It didn't look like he was going to be around long tonight, did it?" Robinson said. "He really was not in a good groove early in the ballgame . . . but he settled in, settled down and started making his pitches. He gave us a chance to come back."

In the first inning, there were four consecutive singles, with Howard knocking one run in with a liner to center and former Baltimore Oriole Jeff Conine bringing home another with a hit to left.

Ortiz (11-15) proceeded to yield consecutive singles in the second, third and fifth innings, but each time escaped further trouble. "In the first inning, they were aggressive and hit everything," Ortiz said.

The Phillies blamed the umpires for their missed opportunity in the second. With two runners on and two outs, Chase Utley hit a fly down the right field line that was ruled foul. The Phillies did not argue at the time, but after watching replays following the game, they expressed their displeasure.

"Somebody's got to see it," Manager Charlie Manuel said. "It's terrible. It's unreal."

With runners on the corners with one out in the third, Ortiz struck out Mike Lieberthal and got Abraham Nuñez on a liner to center. And in the fifth, after the first two batters reached, including Howard with his second hit, Ortiz retired Conine on a liner, struck out Pat Burrell for the second time and ended the threat on Lieberthal's gentle fly ball.

The Nationals, meantime, scored once in their initial at-bat against Brett Myers (12-7), then took the lead with a pair of runs in the third inning, with both rallies involving Zimmerman.

The rookie produced the first run with a one-out groundout that knocked in Bernie Castro, who had bunted for a hit and gone to third on Felipe Lopez's single.

Two innings later, a couple of walks set the stage for Zimmerman, who -- with two outs -- drove the ball over left fielder Burrell for his 47th double, which tied him with Albert Pujols, Fred Lynn and Vada Pinson for the most by a rookie since Johnny Frederick's 52 for the Brooklyn Robins in 1929.

His 107 RBI surpassed Hideki Matsui's 106 total as a first-year player three years ago and put him on pace to overtake Carlos Beltran (108) and perhaps Mike Piazza (112) before the season concludes this weekend against the New York Mets.

"It's good to see him finishing very well on the offensive part of it," Robinson said. "It will serve him well over the course of his career when something is on the line in September, something to play for."

After effective relief appearances by Jim Traber and Saul Rivera, Washington turned to Jon Rauch to face a parade of pinch hitters in the eighth. He allowed Randall Simon's one-out single and caught David Dellucci looking at a third strike. With Chris Coste at bat, pinch runner Michael Bourn had second base stolen but slid over the bag and was tagged out.

Zimmerman scored the Nationals' fourth run after singling with two outs in the eighth, moving to second on a walk and scrambling home on Brian Schneider's slow bouncer that second baseman Utley could not pick up with his bare hand.

Cordero entered in the ninth and, after allowing Coste's double, got Jimmy Rollins on a pop out, then struck out Shane Victorino. Utley singled to left, cutting the deficit to 4-3 and giving Howard an opportunity to tie it or put the Phillies ahead.

With the crowd on its feet, however, the big first baseman lifted a harmless fly.

"We weren't going to let him extend his hands," Schneider said. "If you miss that spot by a couple of inches, he's a guy that's going to hurt you pretty bad."