Phillies sitting in a familiar spot - first place

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Charlie Manuel scoffed every time someone mentioned the Philadelphia Phillies and wild card in the same breath.

When others thought the Phillies may have to settle for a wild-card spot this season, their skipper never wavered. He insisted his team would never concede the division until it ran out of games.

Here they are now sitting atop the NL East standings with 21 games left. The Phillies have erased a seven-game deficit and hold a half-game lead over the Atlanta Braves, who had a makeup game against St. Louis on Thursday night.

Just as he cautioned that the race wasn't over when the Phillies were trailing Atlanta by a big margin on July 22, Manuel isn't ready to start setting up his formidable postseason rotation until they've clinched.