PHILLIES NEWS

Things didn't look so good for the Phils at the onset of tonight's game. After 6 innings Jamie Moyer had been touched up for 3 runs and 6 hits and the Phils offense was continuing to struggle as Randy Johnson shut them out through 6 innings. In the seventh inning though everything changed in a big way. Johnson began the 7th by loading the bases with nobody out. As he was lifted in a favor of reliever Brandon Medders, the Phils sent in a pinch hitter to take the place of Wes Helms, and he was none other than supposedly hobbled Phil Ryan Howard. In a scene reminiscent of Kirk Gibson against the A's, Howard deposited Medders first pitch into the seats, turning a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 Phils lead. Meanwhile, Moyer pitched a scoreless frame in the bottom of the inning to end his day on a high note. An error by Conor Jackson allowed the Phils to push the lead to 6-3 in the 8th and Shane Victorino Homer helped the Phils up it to 9-3 in the 9th inning. Two scoreless frames from Brett Myers later, the Phils had won 9-3 to push their record back up to 15-19. Hopefully, this will not only pump Howard out of the funk that caused him to get this entire series off , but pump the Phils out of their recent funk, after a 4-6 road trip, as well. Life is Beautiful, and in the immortal words of Jack Buck "I don't believe what I saw".