Burrell, Myers Power Phils To Win

Finally, they look good. Brett Myers pitched eight strong innings, giving up a couple of home runs but only surrendering three hits and — most importantly — walking none, while striking out five. He went far enough to hand Brad Lidge the ball in the ninth, and the new closer shut the door with a four-batter save.

Then there’s Pat Burrell, who’s flat out mashing. He sliced a home run into the far reaches of left field to tie the game at 2, then doubled in another run. He also singled, raising his batting average to a stellar .400. By the way, he’s been on base 51 percent of the time and has a ridiculous 1.369 OPS. Sure it may be early, but Burrell is clearly having an awesome season.

Charlie Manuel fixed his lineup issues, dropping Eric Bruntlett to the eight-hole while giving Pedro Feliz a night off and placing Greg Dobbs in the two-hole. It worked — Dobbs went 2 for 3 with an RBI double on a controversial play by Kosuke Fukudome. Bruntlett went o for 3. Shane Victorino brought his average up a bit, going 2 for 3 with a walk and a run.

Clearly this was the best looking win of the year. You want your “ace” to give you eight innings, and he saved the bullpen possibly two days since Cole Hamels goes tonight. Meanwhile, the offense got going enough to put a five-spot on the board, and they took advantage of a slowly sinking Carlos Zambrano later in the game.

Associated Press photo