By CHARLES ODUM
AP Sports Writer

ATLANTA(AP) -- The Philadelphia Phillies have one last trip to
prove they are the best road team in baseball.

They're off to a good start.

The Phillies ended rookie Tommy Hanson's streak of 19
consecutive scoreless innings, beating Atlanta 4-2 Sunday and
damaging the Braves' faint NL wild-card hopes.

The Phillies won two of three against the Braves to improve to
45-29 away from Philadelphia for the best road record in the
major leagues.

There are seven games remaining in the Phillies' final 10-game
road trip. They need only three more wins to match their
team-record 48 road wins in 1976.

There was a rain delay of 1 hour, 51 minutes in the middle of
the fifth inning, ending Cliff Lee's start for the Phillies. Lee
said he wanted to remain in the game.

"I'm never going to be happy coming out after four innings
regardless of what the circumstances are," Lee said. "I want to
go out there and get deep in games."

Lee threw briefly in front of the Phillies dugout during the
delay, but manager Charlie Manuel said he doesn't like to send a
starter back after delays longer than about 40 minutes.

"He was doing pretty good," said Manuel of Lee, who gave up five
hits and one run in four innings.

Brad Lidge, the fifth Phillies reliever, pitched another shaky
ninth inning but posted his 31st save in 41 chances. The NL
East-leading Phillies took two of three in the series.

The Braves fell 5 1/2 games behind wild-card leader Colorado.

"It's discouraging," said Atlanta's Chipper Jones. "We played
pretty well. We thought we swung the bats real good today, just
hit a lot of balls at people.

"It's not over until you're mathematically eliminated. Obviously
we need some help but we've still got to take care of business."

Hanson (10-4) threw a combined 15 scoreless innings in his last
two outings to join Pete Smith (1988) and Paul Marak (1990) as
only the third Atlanta rookie to pitch at least seven scoreless
innings in back-to-back starts, according to the Elias Sports
Bureau.

Hanson, who ended his Sept. 3 start at Florida with two
scoreless innings, opened Sunday's game with two scoreless
innings to stretch his streak to 19. The string ended when he
gave up a run in the third on Ben Francisco's RBI double.

Hanson had a longer streak of 26 consecutive scoreless innings
earlier in the season.

The Phillies tagged Hanson for four runs and seven hits,
including four for extra bases, in five innings.

"This is a good team. I felt like I made some good pitches and
they got some good hits," Hanson said. "The biggest thing was
the bottom of the order, having those bloop hits."

Tyler Walker (2-0) gave up only one hit in two scoreless innings
following the delay. He said he spent the rain delay preparing
to take over for Lee and "go until I couldn't go anymore."

Walker said he tried to prepare as if he were starting a new
game.

"Now I know why I'm not a starter anymore," Walker said. "I was
sweating like a hostage out there."

Ryan Madson struck out the side in the eighth and Lidge took
over with a 4-1 lead to begin the ninth.

With two outs, Lidge walked Brooks Conrad and gave up Brian
McCann's RBI single. Lidge struck out Nate McLouth to end the
game.

Lee allowed a first-inning run when Martin Prado doubled and
scored on a single by Matt Diaz.

The Phillies took a 3-1 lead with two runs in the fourth. Jayson
Werth walked, Raul Ibanez hit an RBI double and Pedro Feliz
singled home a run.

Jimmy Rollins led off the fifth with a double and scored on
Chase Utley's triple to the soggy right-field corner.

Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino, who returned after
missing one start with flu-like symptoms, was ejected in the
first inning after he was thrown out trying to steal second
base. Second base umpire Chad Fairchild called Victorino out on
the throw from catcher David Ross to shortstop Omar Infante.

Victorino threw his helmet down and was ejected for continuing
to argue as Fairchild began to walk away.

Chipper Jones had two hits for Atlanta. His third-inning double
off the left-field wall was his first extra-base hit since his
double at Florida on Sept. 2.

NOTES: The Braves won the season series 10-8. ... Phillies C
Carlos Ruiz missed his second straight start after spraining his
left wrist Friday night. ... The Braves were missing two
starters, 1B Adam LaRoche (sore back) and SS Yunel Escobar
(bruised elbow). LaRoche left Saturday night's game early and
said he had lingering soreness after taking swings in the
batting cage before Sunday's game. Escobar was hit by a pitch in
Saturday.