The Phillies defeated the Marlins on Tuesday and vaulted into first place in the NL East because of an Atlanta loss to Pittsburgh. "It's always good to be in first. That's the only way to live," manager Charlie Manuel said. Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and Shane Victorino each hit a solo homer for the Phillies, who were seven games behind the Braves on July 22. "There's a lot of baseball left," Victorino said. "We are where we wanted to be now. We're in position to control our destiny." Philadelphia is .5 game ahead of Atlanta with 22 games left.