Holding court in the Marlins' dugout a couple of hours before Tuesday's doubleheader, Fredi Gonzalez couldn't hide his satisfaction in the fact that his club hadn't yet been branded with the fatal letter.

The reference is to the front page of the stats package that gets dropped on Gonzalez's desk, recapping the major-league standings after the previous night's games. The listings come with added notation in September, when an ``X'' marks teams eliminated from playoff contention.

``As long as we've got games left and they haven't put one of those Xs next to us, it's good,'' Gonzalez said.

By day's end, the Marlins remained unblemished. Bruised a little, but still not quite ready for life support.

Buoyed by an eight-inning, two-hit performance from Anibal Sanchez, a 3-0 triumph over Philadelphia allowed the Marlins to bounce back from a tough Game 1 loss that chipped another fragment off their playoff hopes.

``I'd rather take a split than lose two,'' Gonzalez said after the long day concluded. ``I'll keep taking what I can until they put one of those funny letters next to us.''

Said Sanchez: ``We lost the first game and we're close to [elimination]. I just wanted to go out there and work out a win. This is my best start all season.''

Solo homers from Dan Uggla (his 30th) and Cody Ross (23rd) provided the offense, as the Marlins (81-71) beat Philadelphia at home for the first time all season. The losing streak had reached nine with the Phillies' 9-3 opening romp.

``They kind of put it to us in Game 1,'' said Uggla, who became the first Marlin with three consecutive years of at least 30 homers. ``In Game 2, Sanchy came out and put it to them. You can't say enough about that -- especially against that lineup.''

Sanchez (3-7) produced his longest outing of the season, striking out eight on the way to breaking his personal three-game losing streak. Chase Utley had both of Philadelphia's hits -- a fourth-inning single and a seventh-inning double.

``I just did everything that I've been wanting to do in all the starts,'' said Sanchez, whose performance eclipsed three seven-inning stints this year.

Leo Nuñez pitched the ninth inning for his 24th save.

It was Florida's third split in as many doubleheaders this season, having done the same against Arizona in May and Colorado last month. This one, though, left the Marlins more wounded than the others.

Florida (81-71) is about out of thread in the NL East race, still eight games behind Philadelphia but now with just 10 to play.

The wild-card berth remains a possibility, though the Marlins walked off the field still five back of Colorado. The Rockies faced San Diego late Tuesday night out west.

``It's just where we're at right now,'' said Josh Johnson, the tough-luck loser in Game 1. ``We've got to keep playing hard.''

Johnson (15-5) gave up just one extra-base hit -- Miguel Cairo's fourth-inning double, which never factored in the scoring. But the other six were bunched together just well enough to put him in a 4-0 hole before he came out.

``I think they hit one ball hard, and that was tough to swallow,'' said Johnson, who struck out 10.

``I was making good pitches, and they were hitting them. Not hitting them hard, but they were putting them into play and they were falling. It's one of those days where you make good pitches, but they don't come out on the positive side.''

Philadelphia starter Joe Blanton scattered just two hits over seven innings to win his second consecutive start.

Chris Coghlan singled in the first and Jorge Cantu singled in the second, but that was the extent of the damage.