ATLANTA — It was a small gesture: just a hard look toward centerfield and a slight raise of the glove. But if you really want to find the reason the Phillies are 65-48 and winners of four straight, look past the game-winning home run by Ryan Howard in the ninth and focus on the nonverbal communication that took place between two teammates in the sixth.

When Garret Anderson stepped to the plate to lead off the frame, Shane Victorino already had turned in a long day at the office, chasing down a long fly ball by Yunel Escobar in the second, then making one of the most impressive displays of athleticism you’ll see from a centerfielder, while robbing Brian McCann of an RBI double in the fifth.
So when the Phillies’ Gold Glove centerfielder sprinted after Anderson’s long fly ball in the alley in right-center, catching it on the run before banging into the wall, pitcher Joe Blanton felt compelled to offer his proper respect.
“It was a great catch,” the righthander said after Howard’s home run and a series of defensive gems propelled the Phillies to a 3-2 win over the Braves on Friday night. “He deserves an extra cookie at dinner tonight.”
Victorino, who dodged the praise in much the same way he dodged defenders while a high-school football star in his native Hawaii, will settle for the victory, only the Phillies’ third over the Braves this season. Entering the ninth inning tied at 2-2, they faced the prospect of allowing both the Marlins and the Braves to creep within four games of the National League East lead. The Phillies had lost their first three games of the season at Turner Field, and, with the Marlins beating the Rockies and Braves righthander Jair Jurrjens again frustrating the Phillies with pinpoint command, their leads (4-› and five games, respectively) looked tenuous.
Jurrjens retired nine of the first 10 hitters he faced, seizing control of the count by throwing first-pitch strikes to each. Blanton, meanwhile, allowed a leadoff double in the first to Nate McLouth, who later scored on an RBI single by veteran Phillie-killer Chipper Jones. But Chase Utley took note of Jurrjens’ aggressiveness early in the count and blasted a first-pitch fastball deep into the seats in rightfield for a two-run home run in the fourth.
“If he’s getting ahead of you with strikes, especially fastballs, that’s when you go up there and look for a fastball,” manager Charlie Manuel said.
The Braves tied the game in the bottom of the frame thanks to the only Phillies miscue of the night, a fielding error on Pedro Feliz that allowed Escobar to reach with one out. After Adam LaRoche struck out for what should have been the final out of the inning, Ryan Church laced a double to the leftfield corner, allowing Escobar to score from first.
Although Jurrjens and Blanton held the opposition scoreless for the next three frames, there was no shortage of action. Jimmy Rollins hit a two-out double in the fifth, but Jurrjens struck Victorino out looking to end the frame. The highlight of the night came in the bottom half of that inning, when Victorino reacted immediately to a first-pitch fastball that McCann crushed to dead center. The outfielder turned his back and sprinted to the warning track, where he found himself slightly out of position. Turning around and leaping backward in one motion, he reached up and snagged the ball, crashing into the wall for the final out of the frame, stranding the go-ahead run at third.
“Phenomenal balance,” rightfielder Jayson Werth said when asked what he saw on the play. “He kind of got turned around on it, and that’s easy to do in centerfield ... But he was still aware of his surroundings. He officially earned the nickname the Flyin’ Hawaiian.”
In the eighth, Braves manager Bobby Cox brought in lefthanded relief ace Mike Gonzalez, who allowed a leadoff double to pinch-hitter Ben Francisco. But after Rollins sacrificed the runner to third, Victorino and Utley both fouled out to leave the go-ahead run on base.
Howard rendered that situation moot in the ninth. Cox went with righthanded closer Rafael Soriano to start the frame, but Howard smoked a 2-1 slider for his 28th home run of the season and his second in as many days.
“I put a good swing on it,” said Howard, who has two homers in his last five at-bats after going a career-high 57 straight without one, “and that’s what you’re trying to do.”
Closer Brad Lidge provided a few tense moments while recording his 22nd save, but was aided his outfield, as Werth and leftfielder Raul Ibanez both got good jumps and made running catches of well-hit balls.
“As a whole, we do a good job of positioning; we have a pretty good idea of where we want to be; we communicate well,” Werth said. “We cover a lot of ground out there.”
And in doing so, they kept the Braves from making up any ground in the standings.