Phillies take series from Bucs

Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel is hoping the win helps keep his job.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Charlie Manuel was fired once before at the All-Star break in his first managerial stint with Cleveland. He'd like to believe he can safely pack his bags after this break when Philadelphia travels to San Francisco later this week.
Manuel can handle the rumors about his shaky job status. It's the way others handle the speculation that has him on edge.
"People look at you like you have cancer," Manuel said.
"They act like they don't know what to say to you."
He won't mind the concerned looks if he can keep his job.
Cole Hamels pitched five solid innings to win for the first time in over a month, and the Philadelphia Phillies took their first series in that same span, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-3 Sunday.
Team has underachieved
General manager Pat Gillick hasn't indicated that Manuel's job is in jeopardy, but the Phillies have sorely underachieved after finishing only one game behind National League wild-card winner Houston last season.
Manuel said the rumors have affected his team's performance.
"If I lose games for the Phillies, then I've got to go," he said.
Manuel was fired at the 2002 break in the final year of his contract with the Indians over a contract dispute.
Manuel said he learned his lesson with the Indians about going public with his unhappiness over a team's direction and wouldn't gripe about the Phillies' talent level.
"When I was in Cleveland, I kind of fired myself," he said. "I got blamed for a lot of things. They act like I walked in and asked for a contract and asked for more money and I never did. ... Once I got let go, everything was my fault, everything fell on me. I felt that kind of hurt who I was in baseball. I never will quit. I'll come to work every day and do the best I possibly can."
Hamels (2-4) hadn't won since June 6 against Arizona in a victory that clinched a series win against the Diamondbacks.
He lost his next four starts and had a no-decision in his last outing as the Phillies tumbled under .500 and out of the NL East race. The Phillies had lost eight straight series and won their first home series since May 29-31 against Washington.
Abreu leads Phillies
Bobby Abreu had three hits and reached base for the 34th straight game, and Chris Coste continued his hot hitting with two RBIs for the Phillies.
Joe Randa drove in two runs for the Pirates, who lost the final two games of the three-game set to drop their eighth straight series.
Ryan Franklin tossed two shutout innings and two other relievers combined to nudge Philadelphia's record to 40-47 at the break.
A day after he drove in a career-high three runs, Coste put the Phillies ahead 4-3 in the fifth inning with an RBI single off Pirates starter Zach Duke (5-8). David Bell followed with a sacrifice fly. Coste added another run-scoring single in the sixth.
Those fifth-inning runs made a winner out of Hamels, who allowed three runs, six hits and struck out seven.
The Pirates touched Hamels for two runs in the first on All-Star game starter Jason Bay's sacrifice fly and Randa's RBI single.
Duke allowed 10 hits and seven runs (five earned) in 51/3 innings. Duke hasn't won since June 14.
"We gave away too many opportunities for them to score runs today," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said.
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