Ryan Howard Beats Up the Dads

Ryan Howard breaks his slump at least for a day thanks to one very awful Joe Thatcher cutter.

He put the eighth inning pitch into the right field seats to break up a 2-2 tie. Howard also knocked home the Phillies first run of the game.

Howard doubled off former Phillie Randy Wolf in his return to Philadelphia. Wolf left the Phillies after the 2006 to head to his home state California.

Wolf pitched well against the Phillies potent lineup. He worked his fastball all game, finishing off seven Phillies for strikeouts using his deceptively good fastball. Wolf left the game after six innings allowing only two runs and striking out nine.

His counterpart Adam Eaton who started his career with San Diego, pitched just as well. Eaton started off shaky as five of the seven batters that reached based against him were in the first three innings.

The righty looked like his old self early in the game. He couldn't find the strike zone and when he did it was up in the zone.

Tadahito Iguchi looped a pitch up in the strike zone for a base hit. Adrian Gonzalez followed with a home run on another pitch up in the strike zone.

Despite his first inning blip, it seems like Eaton is finally getting the concept of high pitcher in Citizen's Bank Ballpark equals lots of home runs. He's only allowed three home runs in six starts this year as opposed to 30 in 30 starts last year.

Besides Eaton pitching phenomenally, the bullpen went three no hit innings to secure the Phillies win after Howard's homer.

Flash Gordon already has five decisions after he picked up the win to move to 3-2 on the season.

Adam Eaton has six starts and still no decision.

Brad Lidge threw the perfect ninth for the save.

Part of the reason the bullpen has been so good is because they aren't overworked. The Phillies starting pitching has gone six innings consistently. The bullpen has routinely only had to throw two or three innings a game which helps a lot.

It looked like Adam Eaton was going to make the pen work early because he had around 80 pitchers through four innings. Entering the fifth it looked like he was going to finish that inning around 95 and probably would have been done for the night.

Instead he went one-two-three and could give the Phillies a sixth inning.

I'll leave you with what my good friend Tony texted me after the game, "Phils are in 1st place!"

Philadelphia's Ageless Wonder Gets His Turn Tonight

Last night San Diego's 42 year-old Greg Maddux took the mound for the Padres, but tonight it's 45 year-old Jamie Moyer.

Moyer will try to get better results than Maddux who went six plus innings, allowed three runs, and came away with a loss.

The slow throwing south paw will attempt to win the Phillies eighth game out ten and put Philadelphia at 16-12 which would be their best record in April since 2003. Considering the Phillies ended up around 88 wins the last four Aprils, it's a good sign the Phillies are off to even better start because of their tendency to get hot after the All-Star break.

Opposing Moyers is 6'10'' Chris Young who in starts has shut the Phillies down. He's 1-1, but has 1.46 ERA, .89 WHIP and 12 strike outs in almost as many innings.

Shane Victorino should be back in the lineup tonight. He came off the bench last night to pinch hit.

Tonight's projected starting lineup and career numbers vs. Chris Young:
1. Shane Victorino 0-3
2. Jason Werth never faced Young
3. Chase Utley 2-5
4. Ryan Howard 0-0 with three walks
5. Pat Burrell 2-6
6. Pedro Feliz 1-12
7. Chris Coste never faced Young
8. Eric Bruntlett 0-1

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Phillies 6 Padres 5. Chris Young has been awful since coming back from an injury last year. He's just 1-7 with 5.20 ERA in 15 starts since returning from a strained left oblique. The Phillies will make that number 1-8 after tonight.

Phillies Eighth Inning Explosion Downs Padres 7-4

The Phillies nearly blow an eighth inning lead, but instead blow up open the game in the bottom half of the frame.

Cole Hamels went seven very strong innings, but for the second straight game, he ran into trouble in the eighth. Against Milwaukee he surrendered a two run home run to Prince Fielder which cost Philadelphia the game.

Tonight, Hamels allowed a first and third situation with one out in the eighth with a 3-1 lead when skipper Charlie Manuel pulled him in favor of lefty specialist J.C. Romero. He walked the first batter he faced and was lifted in favor of Flash Gordon. He worked the outside of the plate against Tadahito Iguchi and Kevin Kouzmanoff to get both to ground out. One run scored, but the Phillies still held a 3-2 lead.

That's when the fun began. Three doubles, a single, and a walk later and the Phillies had four more runs on the board. Of course who better to start the rally off than Chase Utley who doubled on a fastball that hung out over the middle of the plate. He continued his MVP campaign with a 2-4 effort to raise his average to .364.

Cole Hamels put the Phillies in a position to win this game through his absolute stellar pitching. He allowed just two extra base hits, both to Scott Hairston Jr. who had a monster game with two home runs and a double. The Camel struck out six and walked just two. King Cole moves to 3-3 on the season.

Ryan Madson made things a bit interesting at the end allowing Hairston's second home run on the day.

It was nice to see the Phillies get a little production out of the bottom of the lineup. Pedro Feliz and Carlos Ruiz both came through in the eighth inning with hits and were both 2-4 on the day.

After Jason Werth, Pat Burrell and Chase Utley, the Phillies lineup has been severely lacking. Check out Phillies Flow to see how bad the rest of the lineup has been.

Tomorrow night will feature Jamie Moyer vs. Chris Young.

Maddux Goes for Milestone Win Tonight

The former Braves Cy Young hog Greg Maddux will try to pick up win number 350 tonight against the Phillies.Maddux set himself up to bring home the historic win during his last outing, but closer Trevor Hoffman blew the save. Tonight, the Phillies will try to prevent the game from even being Hoffman's hands.

Maddux has revived himself a bit during the early going in 2008. He's given up three earned runs or less in every start but one. Unfortunately for Maddux, that one start was a career high nine earned runs in his first attempt at win 350.

One reason for Maddux's resurgence is it seems like he's retuned two-seam fastball which was always one of his best pitches in the 90s. Every time he pitches, it seems like his two-seam fastball shows up on Baseball Tonight during the "That's Nasty" segment.

His pinpoint control is as good as its almost ever been. Maddux issued a mere 25 walks in about 200 innings in 2007, and is off the same strong start in 2008. The former Cy Young winner has just six walks in 2008. The Phillies have typically been very good at working pitchers and creating base runners so tonight the Phillies might need to manufacture an extra run or two because Maddux is going to keep base runners to a minimum.

Shane Victorino will most likely be back in the lineup tonight to face Maddux giving the Phillies another solid left handed bat.

Here's the projected lineup and how they've fared against Maddux.
1. Shane Victorino (1-3)
2. Jason Werth (0-3)
3. Chase Utley (1-4 with a home run)
4. Ryan Howard (1-3)
5. Pat Burrell (15-41 with two home runs)
6. Pedro Feliz (5-22)
7. Chris Coste never faced Maddux
8. Eric Bruntlett (1-7)

Cole Hamels throws tonight for the Phillies. He's been a hard luck loser twice this year which makes his 2-3 record not representative of how he's pitched this year. Manager Charlie Manuel left Hamels in the eighth inning to pitch to the heart of the Brewers lineup last time out and got burned.

Hamels's overall numbers are still very strong. He's got 30 strike outs in 36 innings and a phenomenal WHIP and ERA of 1.08 and .275. He's basically two bad breaks from opening the season 4-1 and in the early season Cy Young talks.

The Camel has pitched well against his hometown team in the past. He lost a tough start last year when Chris Young out dueled him 1-0 in San Diego.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Phillies 5 Padres 3. The Phillies really like to bash pitchers who don't have a pitch with a ton of extreme movement. Ryan Howard hits another home run tonight (last time I predicted it, I nailed it right on the head).