Howard Showers Nats With Power

Ryan Howard is a beast. Everybody already knew that coming into tonight's game against the Nationals. Coming out of tonight's 9-6 victory, everybody thinks Ryan Howard is a superhero. Cole Hamels was off to a rough start. In the second inning he surrendered three runs. In the bottom of the second Ryan Howard got one back with an upper deck homerun. Then, in the third inning with bases loaded Ryan Howard hit a moonshot homerun that put the Phillies up 6-3. On a down note, Cole struggled pretty much all night. He gave up another run in the fourth, then two more in the sixth. He ended up going six innings and allowing six runs. Not a typical start for Cole. In his previous seven starts against the Nationals he posted a 0.39 ERA. Maybe there was a book on Cole, but I think Cole just had an off night. He was getting to cute with the lower part of the order, and leaving pitches up just waiting to be hammered. I expect Cole to bounce back to his regular form next start. The Phillies bullpen was perfect tonight in three innings of relief. Brad Lidge notched his 11th save of the season. Also, Ryan Madson got his 11th hold of the season. Brad Lidge looks like he's finding his 2008 form again. This was his second consecutive 1-2-3 save.
Antonio Bastardo
Antonio Bastardo will be called up from LeHigh Valley to fill in for Brett Myers. Bastardo appeared in 11 games between Reading and Lehigh Valley where he had 51 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings and posted at 1.90 ERA.
NEXT UP
Jamie Moyer will make his sixth attempt at capturing his 250th career victory. Last start against the Marlins he went six innings and gave up four runs. Jamie is 0-4 with a 9.62 ERA over his last four starts. John Lannan will go for the Nats. John Lannan was cruising for five innings on Monday against the Mets. Then in the sixth inning the Mets scored five runs against Lannan and went on to win 5-2