The playoffs are just about out of reach for the Marlins.

A winning season, though, is safely in their grasp.

The Marlins on Wednesday locked up their sixth winning season in franchise history when they rallied to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-6.

And they did it with flair, coming from behind in the bottom of the ninth to pull out their 82nd win. Pinch-hitter Brett Carroll's two-out single off Brad Lidge drove in Hanley Ramirez from third with the winning run.

``We've had some great comeback wins,'' Carroll said. ``This is what you dream about.''

The Marlins, who trailed 6-5 entering the ninth, have now earned 10 wins this season in their final at-bat.

Lidge, who already had blown 10 saves this season, ran into instant trouble when Ross Gload led off the inning with a double. After Gload advanced to third on Chris Coghlan's fly ball to right, pinch-hitter John Baker struck out looking on a low-and-away pitch that brought protests from Baker and manager Fredi Gonzalez.

Gonzalez was ejected by plate umpire Sam Holbrook. Ramirez walked, bringing up Jorge Cantu, who singled to tie the score. Cantu had four hits and drove in two runs Wednesday.

Carroll was sent up to pinch-hit and stroked a 0-2 slider from Lidge into center, setting off a walk-off victory celebration.

``The back of my head told me he's not going to groove a fastball right there,'' Carroll said. ``Once I got 0-2, I was just trying to battle, hopefully see a pitch up, hopefully he makes a mistake. And when he left it up, I just trusted my hands. And after that I really don't know what went on.''

SHOWING RESILIENCY

The Marlins now have posted winning records in five of the past seven seasons. But they have reached the playoffs in only one of those years, 2003, when they won the World Series.

``I think it's something, from our perspective, that was expected,'' Baker said of the winning record. ``Despite what all the naysayers have said about us in the past, that we don't have a good enough defense, don't have a good enough bullpen, we lost too many bats from the lineup -- this team is incredibly resilient, and when things have looked at their worst for us, we've rebounded from it relatively quickly.''

The night didn't start off for the Marlins as well as it ended.

Nemesis Ryan Howard remained a thorn.

If the Marlins could figure out a way to whisk Howard out of the National League East, they would happily hire the moving company, pick up all his expenses and throw the going-away party.

Howard has made life miserable for the Marlins over the years, and Wednesday proved no different. The big cleanup hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies drove in four runs, two with a double off the scoreboard in left and two more with a home run over it.

Howard isn't the only reason the Phillies will be trying to become the first NL team since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds to win back-to-back World Series titles, just as soon as they clinch the division. But the sizable slugger from St. Louis is a major one.

Just ask Rick VandenHurk and Renyel Pinto, each of whom felt Howard's sting in front of an announced crowd of 31,042.

VandenHurk delivered a 2-2 pitch to Howard in the third inning that he probably felt satisfied with when it left his hand. The pitch was outside, right where he wanted it to be. But Howard reached out and swatted the ball off the scoreboard, just over Coghlan's outstretched glove, and the Phillies had a 2-0 lead.

HOWARD STRIKES

Later, after the Phillies had both lost and then retaken the lead, Howard stepped up against Pinto and belted a two-run shot. It was his 42nd home run of the season and gave him 130 RBI.

Pinto could be considered guilty of issuing an excessive number of walks. He has doled out 43 in 57 innings this season, including one to Chase Utley just before Howard took him deep. But he isn't often burned by the long ball. The Howard home run was just the fourth he has allowed (compared to 13 in 65 innings by closer Leo Nunez, for example).

It's just that no Marlins pitcher seems immune to his power. Howard has a career batting average of .312 and has 24 home runs against the Marlins.

He wasn't the only member of the Phillies to do damage on Wednesday. Raul Ibanez clubbed his 33rd home run and starting pitcher Cole Hamels aided his own cause with a RBI single.

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