Howard hammers Phillies to series win

Two dingers drop division foe Braves in rubber match

ATLANTA -- In a series where offense has been hard to come by, Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard has supplied plenty of it in key moments. After his performance at Turner Field on Sunday, the Braves will certainly be happy to see him leave town.

As if his ninth-inning home run on Friday wasn't enough, Howard drove in four runs with two homers on Sunday to give Philadelphia a 4-1 victory after a one-hour and 37-minute rain delay for a series win and putting its National League East lead to 4 1/2 games. Howard's three-run homer in the sixth broke a 1-1 tie and Atlanta would never recover.

"I would say he's following the ball pretty good," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. "He was our offense, wasn't he? That's why I call him 'The big piece.'"

Howard started the game's scoring with a solo homer in the second off Braves starter Javier Vazquez, but Atlanta would answer in the bottom half of the fourth inning with a solo home run by Matt Diaz.

However, Howard would save his knockout blow for the sixth after Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino each singled to start the inning against Vazquez. Behind in the count 1-0 to Howard, Vazquez hung a changeup and Howard launched it 378 feet into the right-field seats to give the Phillies all the runs they would need.


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Howard has been hitting very well recently. Of course is has always been a second half of the season player.

I didn't watch much of the game last night because of doing other things but the Phillies have been solid in getting the wins this year.

yes sir, 5 for 6 on the road is pretty damn good. I thought it was beat they pulled Eyre in the last out of the 9th and he couldn't get the save. Why put Lidge in for an out? only thing im thinking is to give him a save, and get his head back into winning or something? IDK

Speaking of Lidge, rumor has it he could be seeing even less time if this happens.....

Padres Heath Bell to Cards or Phillies?

Heath Bell, RHP, Padres - He was put on trade waivers Friday, so we'll see what type of activity there is. Bell could be a huge bullpen piece for a contending team. If he ever got to the Cardinals, that would be one team to watch. The other would be the Phillies, who have concerns about Brad Lidge (seven blown saves). -- Boston Globe

of course Charlie is still a believer in him.....

Phillies standing behind Lidge
Brad Lidge maintains that his fastball and slider have been effective, and he has been the victim of bad luck and a few bad pitches. "I guess that's the reason that, despite all this crap, I still feel optimistic," he said after losing Saturday's game, 4-3, to Atlanta. "I still feel like my best stuff's here, and I hope I get another chance as soon as I can because I know this isn't going to keep happening." Manager Charlie Manuel has insisted that Lidge will remain his closer all season, and agreed with the pitcher that his stuff was good. Yesterday afternoon, he offered an explanation as to why Lidge had allowed so many hits this season (49 in 42 innings). Manuel believes Lidge allows batters to go too deep into counts, forcing the pitcher to throw a hittable strike at 2-2 or 3-2. The manager would like to see his closer pitch more aggressively early in counts. -- Philadelphia Daily News