Is it September yet? Ryan Howard must think it is because he is tearing it up. Howard’s blast was the icing on the cake in the Phillies 12-3 blowout. With the victory, the Phillies swept the Arizona Diamondbacks and improved to 20 games over .500.
The Phillies put up a three spot in the first inning against Doug Davis (5 IP, 6 R). Shane Victorino tripled, and Howard brought him home with a double. Ben Francisco’s two-run single gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead.
The Diamondbacks tied the game in the fourth inning on Miguel Montero and Chad Tracy’s runs batted in. That was all Joe Blanton gave up in eight innings of work.
Blanton (2-for-4) singled to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead. Then, the offense jumped into the Cadillac and took off. Jayson Werth homered for the fourth time in this series. Carlos Ruiz hit his seventh home run of the season, a new career high. After Chase Utley’s RBI single, the Phillies led 8-3, but the big blow came from Howard.
Howard has hit some long home runs in his career, reaching the third deck and homering “over the backdrop.” He found a new area tonight with a 455-foot moonshot that bounced off the back of the Diamondback’s bullpen. From the sound of it, everybody knew it was gone; the only question was where it would land.
Twelve runs was plenty of support. After surrendering three runs through four, Blanton settled down. He allowed ten hits, but struck out four and did not walk a batter. In fact, none of the Phillies pitchers walked a single batter during the entire series. Also, the pitchers tallied a total of six hits.
Players are heating up at the right time, especially Werth and Howard. The starting pitching is going deep into games, resting the bullpen. At the moment, everything is clicking for the Phillies.
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