Howard’s Homer, Bullpen Lead Phillies Over Padres
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When Padres 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez went yard off of Phillies starter Adam Eaton in the first inning, driving home 2nd baseman Tad Iguchi, a lot of people, myself included, thought back to Eaton’s 2007 season and took a deep breath. Uh oh, here we go again.
But Eaton, who had logged 60 pitches by the third inning, settled down after Gonzalez’s 2nd homer in two games to engage former Phillie lefthander Randy Wolf in a 2-2 six inning pitching duel. He was followed by a near-perfect bullpen performance marred only by a single baserunner as 1st baseman Ryan Howard a game-winning homer leading off the eighth as the Phils edged the Padres by a 3-2 score.
With the win, combining with a 5-3 loss by Florida to the LA Dodgers and a Mets open date, the Phillies slipped into undisputed 1st place in the NL East for the first time this season, leading the Mets and Marlins by 1/2 game.
AP sports writer Rob Maaddi discusses the Phils’ emergence into first place for Yahoo sports;
The defending NL East champion Phillies (16-13) are alone atop the division standings for the first time this season. It took them until the final weekend to reach first place last year. They’ve done it with reigning NL MVP Jimmy Rollins out of the lineup since April 8 because of an ankle injury.
“It’s always good to be in first place,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “Let’s see if we can stay there a while.”
Eaton, who tossed his best game of the season thus far, caught stride and retired the last 8 hitters in a row that he faced. He gave up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 2 and walking 2 over six innings. Wolf’s line for six was 2 runs, 6 hits while striking out 9 and walking 3.
Meanwhile, the Phillies knotted the game on Wolf in the third inning on back-to-back RBI doubles by Howard and leftfielder Pat Burrell. Both Howard and Burrell had 2 hit nights as Howard slowly emerges out of his hitting slump.
The Phillies bullpen took over in the seventh inning and held the Padres hitless, only issuing a single walk, that being two out free pass by Ryan Madson to pinch hitter Paul McAnulty.
From there, J.C. Romero, Tom Gordon and closer Brad Lidge were lights-out. Gordon was awarded his 3rd win vs w losses and Lidge notched his 7th save.
Howard opened the eighth with his game-winning solo shot off of lefthanded reliever Joe Thatcher who lost his 3rd game of the season. He is winless. AP’s Maaddi describes Howard’s game winner;
Howard drove a low-and-away pitcher’s pitch into the seats. That’s a sign the slumping slugger is regaining his stroke.
“The last couple days, I’ve had good swings and I’m seeing the ball better,” Howard said. “To come through like this, it makes it that much better.”
Howard started slow last year, but finished with 47 homers and 136 RBIs.
“He’s eventually going to get hot and maybe this is the start of it,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “It’s just a matter of time before he gets to .200 then .250. He’s just too good of a player to be kept down too long.”
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Thursday’s games, click here.
The Phils entertain the San Francisco Giants for 3 games over the weekend. In Friday’s opener, young lefthander Patrick Misch faces Kyle Kendrick followed by game 2 on Saturday with Matt Cain opposed by the top of the Phillies starting rotation, Brett Myers. On Sunday, young 24 year old Tim Lincecum facing ace lefthander Cole Hamels.
Following the Giants, the Arizona Diamondbacks, with the best record in the Majors, meet the Phils for 4 games.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.
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