June 7 -- FEELING THE FORCE

ATLANTA -- During spring training in 2007, I wrote a feature about Jamie Moyer in which I called him "the Yoda of the Phillies' pitching staff" because he's forever giving advice and counsel to younger pitchers.

Turns out, Moyer doesn't know much about Yoda.

But Brad Lidge does.

After last night's wild-and-crazy finish in a game that saw the Phillies come within inches of losing in the ninth inning and before winning by mere inches in the 10th, Lidge offered only one explanation.

"The Force was with us tonight," he said. Moments later, he added, "If you want things in the season to go good, you need to have some of those Force-be-with-you moments."

From now on, I think Lidge should be required to talk like Yoda. For instance, if he's asked about the Phillies' challenging June schedule, in which they play their next 17 games against teams with winning records, Lidge could say, "Play well, we must."

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What is it about games in Atlanta?

Before last night, the Phillies' most recent game at Turner Field was last Sept. 5. You remember that day, I'm sure. The Phillies will never forget it. They were leading 5-0 after the second inning and 8-2 after the seventh, then allowed four runs in the eighth and three in the ninth on a flurry of broken-bat hits and infield flares and lost 9-8. That was the day that Chris Roberson forgot his sunglasses, misjudged a fly ball in right field and probably guaranteed that he wouldn't be back with the Phils this season.

"It's mind-boggling," Charlie Manuel said of that game. "I don't know what to say. I've seen some strange, weird games. I've seen balls find holes. I've never seen anything like that. I can't believe what happened. I'm totally amazed, really."

Said setup man Tom Gordon, "A game like that can take all the breath out of you."

The same could be said for last night.

From Kelly Johnson dropping Chris Coste's pop fly on the sure-fire final out of the game in the ninth inning to Shane Victorino's go-ahead triple in the 10th and his perfect peg to the plate to throw out Gregor Blanco with the would-be tying run and end the game, it was a breathless finish.

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Jayson Werth went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts last night for Class A Clearwater, but he was removed from the game in the eighth inning after being hit by a pitch. Assuming he didn't reinjure himself, Werth is eligible to be activated from the disabled list today. We'll get an update for you in a few hours.

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Finally, Gordon related a poignant moment from Thursday night when his 19-year-old son, Devaris Strange-Gordon, was drafted in the fourth round by the Dodgers. Last week, in The News Journal and on The Blog, we told you about how Devaris' mother, Devona Strange, was shot and killed by a boyfriend in 1995. For years, Devaris has wanted to pay for an ornate headstone for his mother's grave in their hometown of Avon Park, Fla.

"[Thursday] night, I said to him, 'You remember that [tombstone] you wanted to buy,'" Gordon said. "I said, 'I think you might have the money now to buy it.' He said, 'Yeah, you're right. That's the first thing I'm going to do.'"