PHILADELPHIA -- While nothing but an abundance of energy was lost, the Braves also exited their marathon weekend at Citizens Bank Park without anything gained.

Holding true to what has become the season's theme, they once again rose from the depths of despair only to be slapped with yet another cruel twist that simply put them in position to once again prove resilient.

After blowing his first save opportunity since June 30 in the first game, Braves closer Bob Wickman gladly accepted the opportunity to close out the thrilling nightcap of Sunday's doubleheader. His scoreless effort ended a 3-1, 11-inning win over the Phillies and gave the Braves the satisfaction of at least splitting both of this weekend's twin bills.

"They showed a lot," Wickman said. "I'm just happy the second game we came out and forgot about what I did in the first game."

A spirited four-run, ninth-inning rally in the first gae that included Matt Diaz's three-run homer went to waste when Wickman allowed the Phillies to score twice in the bottom half of the inning. Consequently, the Phils claimed an 8-7 win and allowed Ryan Howard to savor his first career three-homer performance that increased his Major League-leading homer total to 52.

"We feel like we came out of here with three [wins], but it was only two," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "The first game just happened."

While the split enabled the Braves to keep pace with the Phillies in the National League Wild Card race, the players all seemingly knew they needed to win at least three games.

"It's going to be on my mind all night, even though I got this save [in the second game]," said Wickman, who had converted 15 consecutive save opportunities. "I let the team down. We had a chance to pick up two games on Philadelphia and we ended up splitting. So we didn't pick up any games in the standings. In September, you can't let that happen."

Truthfully, the Braves lost a game while splitting these consecutive twin bills. They'll enter this week's series against the Mets five games behind the front-running Padres in the NL Wild Card race. Unfortunately, they'll be spending at least the next week without Chipper Jones, who sat out Sunday's first game and then once again strained his left oblique muscle with a swing and miss in the ninth inning of the nightcap.

But after watching Lance Cormier provide seven solid innings and Scott Thorman spark the two-run 11th with a leadoff double, the Braves had the satisfaction of knowing they hadn't completely fallen out of the hunt.

"I think we really could have done some damage had we won three of four," Jones said. "We made an unbelievable comeback in the first game."

With Cormier matching Phillies ace Brett Myers with a seven-inning effort in which he surrendered just one run and three hits, the Braves didn't need to make another comeback. They were just gracious to accept the 11th-inning generosity provided by the Phillies.

After his leadoff double, Thorman was replaced with pinch-runner Tony Pena, who scored when Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz fielded Pete Orr's sacrifice bunt attempt and threw to a vacant third base bag. Orr scored two batters later on a wild pitch.

That set the stage for Wickman, who surrendered only a single to the hot-hitting Howard in the 11th. Keeping with the uneasiness of the season, the game ended when Jeff Francoeur went to the right-field wall to catch Jeff Conine's long fly.

"Cormier was outstanding," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "I can't say enough about him. He was pitching in this ballpark against a real good hitting lineup and he gave them nothing, basically."

The same couldn't be said of Tim Hudson after the first game. He surrendered just six hits in seven innings, but three of those hits were home runs surrendered to Howard.

"I thought Huddy was throwing about as good as he has all year and one guy just kept getting him," Cox said. "He's getting everybody. When you've got 50-plus home runs, that's pretty good."

After Diaz's opposite-field three-run homer gave them a lead in the first game, the Braves turned to Wickman, whose afternoon began with Chris Coste hitting a dribbler between the mound and first base. When he and Adam LaRoche couldn't get to it in time, Coste reached with an infield single.

Wickman then issued his first walk since July 3 to pinch-hitter Randall Simon. Jimmy Rollins followed with a game-tying single and Shane Victorino ended things with his game-winning single.

"Wicky isn't perfect," Jones said. "He's been awesome since he's been here. They got a couple runs off of him, big deal."

As Wickman will be the first to attest, it will be an even bigger deal if the Braves do turn things around and manage to finish the season just one game out of the NL Wild Card lead.

"It's discouraging," Wickman said. "But we won the [second] game. We would have liked to have gotten two."