Philadelphia (86-67) at Florida (80-72)

Pat Burrell had not been coming through for the Philadelphia Phillies down the stretch. The same certainly can’t be said of Brett Myers.

After getting a timely hit from Burrell in their seventh straight win, the NL East-leading Phillies send Myers to the mound in the opener of a three-game series with the surging Florida Marlins on Friday night.

Philadelphia (86-67), which has a one-half game lead over the New York Mets in the division race, is on its longest run since winning nine straight in 2006.

Burrell helped the Phillies extend their streak, hitting a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning in a 4-3 win over the Braves on Thursday night to complete a sweep of the nine-game season series in Atlanta.

Burrell, batting below .200 since July, was the hitting star as Philadelphia became the first team to sweep a season series longer than four games in Atlanta.

There have been few weak spots for the Phillies during the latter part of the season, but Burrell has been in a prolonged slump. The veteran left fielder hit .181 in August and .178 in September before his two hits versus the Braves.

“I have struggled lately,” said Burrell, who hit .275 with 23 homers and 57 RBIs before the All-Star break. “That’s fine if you’re winning. Our starting pitching has been incredible.”

Philadelphia’s rotation has had an outstanding run, giving up three runs or less in six of its last seven games.

Myers (10-11, 4.06 ERA) has had a resurgence that has been instrumental in the Phillies’ playoff push. He is 7-2 with a 1.80 ERA in 11 starts since being recalled from the minor leagues on July 20.

The right-hander is coming off his second complete game of the season, giving up two hits as Philadelphia beat Milwaukee 6-1 in the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday.

Myers, though, is 6-9 with a 5.04 ERA in 21 starts and six relief appearances against Florida (80-72), and the Marlins enter this game having won eight straight for the first time since a nine-game run in 2006.

Though only 10 games remain, Florida isn’t counting itself out of the playoff race. The Marlins are five games behind the wild card-leading Mets, while trailing the Phillies by 5 1/2 games in the NL East.

“We’ve got to keep winning,” Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “We’ve got to do our part and see what happens.”

Even with All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez (shoulder) out of the lineup, the Marlins beat fading Houston 8-1 on Thursday night. Ramirez’s status for Friday’s game is uncertain.

Cameron Maybin took Ramirez’s place batting leadoff and Alfredo Amezaga moved to shortstop. If Ramirez still can’t play, Amezaga will likely be back at shortstop and playing behind Josh Johnson (5-1, 3.30 ERA).

Johnson, who returned July 10 for his first start since undergoing elbow ligament replacement surgery last year, has allowed three runs or fewer in 11 of his past 12 outings.

The right-hander earned a win in his last outing, allowing two runs and six hits while striking out a career-high nine batters in six innings as Florida beat Washington 4-2 on Saturday night.

Johnson is 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA in two starts versus the Phillies this season, and 2-1 with a 3.62 ERA in four starts and two relief appearances against them all-time.

Florida is 9-6 against Philadelphia this season.