Lucky seventh straight

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CHICAGO - The Philadelphia Phillies may have benefited from an instant replay in the seventh inning. Too bad the rule only is in effect for home run calls. Ryan Howard was called out on a close play at first, thwarting a rally that helped the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 for their seventh straight win. Since the new system put in place this week deals only with boundary calls on home runs, there was no way to review the pivotal play. TV replays showed that Howard beat the throw to the bag with two outs in a tie game in the seventh inning and Jimmy Rollins at third. But Howard was called out, the game remained tied and Alfonso Soriano homered in the bottom half for the surging Cubs. "It's definitely frustrating. It changes the outcome of the game," Howard said. "Instead of being down 3-2, they get out of the inning, Soriano comes up and hits a home run, now they're up 3-2." Soriano's first homer in 15 days came against Clay Condrey (3-4). Chicago made the most of four hits and improved its record to a major league-best 85-50, including 51-19 at Wrigley Field. "We're playing good because we feel very confident at home and everybody is healthy," Soriano said. Philadelphia had put runners at the corners with two outs in the top of the seventh before Howard's hard grounder went off Derrek Lee. The first baseman retrieved the ball, tossed to pitcher Jeff Samardzija, and first base umpire Chris Guccione called Howard out. Samardzija (1-0) earned his first major league win. Carlos Marmol struck out two with two on in the eighth and pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in nine chances. "I don't know. It happened so fast," Samardzija said of the play at first. "I didn't really feel him hit the bag. I just wanted to go over there and get the ball. And you know [Guccione] called him out, so he's out." Lee wasn't sure. "The ball kicked away from me. I was able to get it," Lee said. "A bang-bang play and I don't know. I didn't see a replay yet, but I heard it was pretty close." Philadelphia, which began the day one game behind the NL East-leading New York Mets, lost its third in a row. Matched against former Oakland teammate Rich Harden, Phillies starter Joe Blanton held the Cubs hitless until Aramis Ramirez hit a two-out single in the fourth. With a 2-0 lead, he ran into trouble the following inning when Mark DeRosa walked, stole second and moved to third on Henry Blanco's infield single to third. Harden allowed two runs, three hits and four walks in five innings. In his first appearance against the Cubs, Blanton gave up two runs and two hits in 5 2/3 innings.