Bullpen doing its job again, but what's up with Romero usage?

PHILADELPHIA - The bullpen shined again Monday. Four relievers, three of them left-handers, shut out the Phillies for the final 10 outs of the game in a 3-1 Nationals win.

A key battle occurred in the sixth. Starter A.J. Cole notched two outs to begin the frame. But the Phillies sandwiched a single in there by Odúbel Herrera, who had earlier crushed a solo shot. 101 pitches into Cole's start, the Nats decided to go to the bullpen to try to get out of the frame.

Left-hander Oliver Pérez arrived and allowed a walk to catcher Andrew Knapp. With two men on, the Phillies went for the big play and called upon pinch-hitter Tommy Joseph.

With runners in scoring position, Joseph had hit .267 with five homers and 43 RBIs. More importantly, it was his 22 homers that the Phillies were counting on. Down 3-1, a three-run shot at that moment turns the game upside down and would have put them in the lead. But he also was only .197 against left-handers this season.

Pérez forced Joseph to pop up weakly behind home plate and end the threat. Matt Wieters made the catch to end the inning.

Manager Dusty Baker played the right cards and was impressed by Pérez's work.

"You can look at turning points of the game and that was certainly one of them," Baker said. "They had the top of the lineup coming up and Tommy Joseph can hit the ball out of the ballpark. So Ollie came in and did his job. That's what you need. You need guys to come in and take care of business in their roles because that's what they're going to be doing. Ollie's had a good year for us. He's a had very good year for us."

The Phillies went 1-2-3 the rest of the way against Matt Grace, Matt Albers and Sean Doolittle. They managed only that walk by Pérez with no hits and no runs. Nats relievers also struck out two.

The lefties, including Sammy Solís and Enny Romero, have done their jobs in the bullpen since the big three arrived in July (Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Madson and Doolittle). Solís has not allowed run in seven September appearances. Romero has only been used twice since Sept. 13, but has also been effective.

Baker said that will change this week. Albers is leaving Wednesday morning to be with his wife as they prepare to welcome their second baby boy to the world.

"Enny's going to get the call in the next couple days when necessary, when we need it," Baker alerted. "Grace has done a fine job for us and Oliver has done a fine job for us. And the left side of the bullpen, and Sammy Solís has come on lately. So, the left side of the bullpen is going to come up big because some of the teams we're facing - all the teams - got some big left-handed hitters and they're going to be called upon to get them out."