Lidge survived another white-knuckle ninth inning Sunday, bobbing and weaving around a leadoff single and a two-out walk to preserve a 5-2 win, improve to 40-for-40 in save chances and tie Steve Bedrosian for the fourth-most saves in a season by a Phillies closer.

"He's been a huge part of our team," manager Charlie Manuel said. "I can't tell you exactly how much, but it's a lot. He has been tremendous. He has been everything that we wanted. We expected a lot out of him, but he's been more than that."

The Phillies are 75-0 when leading after eight innings, primarily due to Lidge. With a 1.87 ERA in 70 appearances, he's having one of the greatest seasons ever for a closer. The gold standard may be Eric Gagne, who went 55-for-55 in save opportunities with a 1.20 ERA, won the Cy Young Award and finished sixth in the MVP voting in 2003 for the Dodgers.

"During the offseason, it'll mean something to me," Lidge said of his success. "Until then, I'm not going to think about it. It's in the back of my head, but I'm not going to let it get to the front of my head. Right now, it's about helping our team get to the postseason."

Lately, it hasn't come easy. Lidge has pitched into deep counts, allowed runners to reach base and escaped problematic jams by relying on his fastball-slider combination to get timely strikeouts. He threw 29 pitches Sunday after tossing 26 on Saturday night and a season-high 33 last Tuesday night in Atlanta.

"He always seems to come up with a big pitch," Manuel said. "That's what talent does for you. That's why a guy can have runners on base and still work out of it. He can strike guys out. If he's a contact pitcher, he wouldn't be 40-for-40."

PHILLIES 5, MARLINS 2: Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz belted two-run home runs to lift the Phillies to a victory in the series finale at Dolphin Stadium. Jamie Moyer allowed one run in six innings to earn his team-leading 15th win and improve to 11-1 in his career against the Marlins. Shane Victorino extended his hitting streak to 10 games with an eighth-inning single. The Phils stretched their division lead to 1 1/2 games over the Mets and lowered their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to four. The Phillies finished the regular season with a 44-37 record on the road. They lead the National League in road victories.