Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick pitched effectively for long enough to pick up a win as the Phils scored 6 runs on 2 homers, 5 runs off of Dodger starter  Carlos Monasterios with another run charged against reliever Ramon Troncoso.  Catcher Brian Schneider clubbed a 3 run second inning homer and 1st baseman Ryan Howard, who ended a 13 game homer drought, went park against Troncoso clubbing a 3 run third inning shot.  Kendrick walked in a run in the first inning, gave up a run in the fifth and was chased after giving up a 2 run dinger to 1st baseman James Loney in the sixth.  Four Phillies relievers shut the door on Los Angeles allowing only a 1 sixth inning hit the rest of the way.  Pinch hitter Carlos Ruiz drove in 2 eighth inning insurance runs as the Phillies provided offensive support for Kendrick and beat the Dodgers by an 8-4 score in game 2 of their series.

Despite the win, the Phils remained 3 games behind NL East division-leading Atlanta who pounded the Mets. The Phils continued to hold a 1 1/2 game NL wildcard lead on San Francisco who beat the Colorado Rockies.  The http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/stl St. Louis Cardinals remained 3 games behind the Phils in the wildcard race after being shut out by  Houston.  The Florida Marlins shut out Washington to increase their hold on 3rd place while remaining 10 1/2 games behind the leaders.  The Mets dropped to 12 games off the pace in 4th place with their loss to the Braves.

The AP game recap for Yahoo provides highlights:

Brian Schneider and Howard each hit a three-run homer to power the Philadelphia Phillies to an 8-4 win…

“Three-run homers are nice. It’s a good weapon,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “We haven’t done that in a while.”

Especially Howard, who had gone 13 games without a homer since July 27 at Arizona. In April, he went 15 games without one.

“I feel like I’ve had some good at-bats and good swings over the last five, six games,” he said. “I was just happy to have gotten a hit.”

Howard missed 16 games in August because of a left ankle sprain, and he’s still working on getting his timing back.

“He’s got to get going,” Manuel said.

Kyle Kendrick (9-7) allowed four runs and seven hits in five-plus innings, walked one and failed to record a strikeout for the first time this season.

“I’m missing up and down the middle,” he said. “I just need to finish pitches more.”

After being held to two runs or less in eight of their previous 12 games, including a shutout loss Monday night in which they managed just one hit, the Phillies got going early against Carlos Monasterios (3-5) and then kept up the pressure on the Dodgers’ shaky bullpen.

Monasterios gave up a leadoff double to Jayson Werth in the second. After Raul Ibanez flied out, Shane Victorino walked and Schneider homered to right on the first pitch he saw, putting the Phillies in front 3-1.

Monasterios allowed five runs and five hits in two-plus innings, struck out one and walked one in his shortest outing of the season.

“I was trying to pitch my game, but they were able to read all my pitches,” he said through a translator.

Monasterios was yanked with runners at the corners [in the third inning] after allowing singles to Placido Polanco and  Chase Utley to open the third. Ramon Troncoso came on to face Howard, who sent a 1-0 pitch into the left-field pavilion for his 24th homer, extending Philadelphia’s lead to 6-1.

George Sherrill, the Dodgers’ third reliever, walked three batters—one intentionally—to load the bases. He turned it over to former closer Jonathan Broxton, who gave up a two-run single to pinch-hitter Carlos Ruiz, making it 8-4.

The Dodgers led 1-0 after Kendrick yielded a bases-loaded walk to James Loney in the first. But Kendrick got Casey Blake to ground into an inning-ending double play to minimize the damage.

Los Angeles added a run in the fifth on [Jamey] Carroll’s RBI groundout, and Loney hit a two-run homer in the sixth, making it 6-4.

To view the scores of all of Tuesday’s games, click here.

The Phils hope to take 2 of 3 from the Dodgers as the other Roy, Roy Oswalt is opposed by lefthander Clayton Kershaw in Wednesday’s series final.
 
To view the schedule of all of Wednesday’s games, click here.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 4:06 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary
Phillies and NL East, Analysis, Predictions, etc
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