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Howard’s Homers Lift Phils Past Cards

Ryan Howard homered in the first and sixth innings, pacing the Phillies to a 4-1 win over the Cardinals. He has now homered in three of his last five at bats and is now hitting .234, up 20 points in two weeks. He also has a 13-game hitting streak.

The homers backed Jamie Moyer, who pitched pleasantly in seven innings, scattering seven hits and striking out four. His ERA is now under 4.00 and his eight wins are second on the team. Moyer has definitely been a saving grace for this pitching staff, providing reliable, consistent efforts and keeping the offense in games. Ryan Madson and JC Romero combined to end the game, with Romero getting his second save with Brad Lidge unavailable.

And if you thought the Phils got all their runs from the longball, Chase Utley pulled Jimmy Rollins home with an RBI double off Cardinals starter Braden Looper. And both Shane Victorino and Geoff Jenkins had two hits in the contest. Maybe the offense isn’t quite back to speed yet, but they’re starting to rake more hits, and more hits in big spots. We can only hope this type of offensive production continues.

The series win keeps the Phils 1.5 games over the rest of the NL East.

Associated Press photo

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.