BOX SCORE
With the rest of the team already on the field taking batting practice a few hours before Saturday nights game at the Bank, Ryan Howards young son Darian came dashing up the tunnel from the clubhouse with the news everyone was waiting to hear.
Hes coming! Hes coming!
Certainly it was big news for everybody on the Phillies that Hunter Pence had arrived following Friday nights trade. But it was especially a big deal to Darian and his dad who had been waiting for someone to show up in the Phillies lineup ever since Jayson Werth jumped to the Washington Nationals. Howard had protection with the right-handed hitting Pence inserted into the No. 5 hole in the batting order behind Howard. Things were about to get better right?
If the results from Saturday nights 7-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates are any indication, the rest of the National League is going to have a more difficult time with the Phillies lineup. Rather than pitch around in the cleanup spot, the Phillies now have a .300 hitter waiting on-deck, which should give Howard a few more pitches to hit.
So far the Phillies new-look lineup has worked out pretty well for Darians dad.
Howard went 4 for 4 with his 21st homer of the season, a double and three more RBIs to give him a league-leading 81. Howard also picked up his 1,000th career hit, and moved past Pat Burrell for seventh in franchise history for RBIs with 829. Meanwhile, for the second game in a row, the Phillies had a player fall one hit away from the cycle. On Friday night Chase Utley needed and double and Shane Victorino a homer, and on Saturday, Howard needed a triple.
MLB
Thats kind of a tough order for him, manager Charlie Manuel joked about Howard needing that elusive triple.
At 67-39 the Phillies maintain the best record in baseball and kept a five-game lead over Atlanta in the NL East. The upstart Pirates, making a surprise run in the NL Central, fell to 54-51 and 3 games off the pace.
Regardless, Howard and Pence put the whole protection bit under the microscope in the eighth when the big fella was intentionally walked with Victorino on third and one out. Thats when Pence stepped in and laced an RBI single to center for his first hit as a Phillie.
In other words, the Phillies are making the opposition pick their poison.
Thats kind of what Im here for, Pence said after going 1 for 5 for his new team. They intentionally walked Howard and thats kind of what I need to do. If theyre going to do that then we have to make them pay and make them pitch to the big man. That was unbelievable to watch him hit. Hitting behind him is pretty nice.
But to pin Howards big game simply on having Pence behind him in the batting order isnt the full story. It was a contributor, perhaps, but it actually is much more sublime than the way Manuel filled out the lineup card.
Actually, Howards big game had mostly to do with the man himself.
I noticed he was patient, Manuel said. He was getting good swings and he was selective. He was getting good balls to hit and thats what it is.
Howard says the addition of Pence adds to the lineup as a whole regardless of where he bats. After all, Pences debut also marked the return of Placido Polanco to the lineup since going on the disabled list on July 5.Better yet, for the first time in a long time Manuel had his full range of players to use. His ideal, opening dayGame 1 lineup was together for Saturday nights game.
Its definitely coming together, Howard said. Just getting Polly back off the DL and he had a couple of hits tonight. Jimmy Rollins has been swinging the bat and were trying to get things going at the right time. For us its just trying to maintain and try to continue to build on it.
Protection? Indeed. There was a lot of protection up and down the Phillies batting order.
This is the only sport where if a team wants to take you out of the outcome, they can, Howard said. Whether there is someone behind you or not, you try to hit mistakes. It helps to have someone like Hunter Pence in the lineup because hes another threat that pitchers have to worry about, but if pitchers dont want to give you pitches, they arent going to give you pitches.
Meanwhile, Cliff Lee was a little stingy in giving the Pirates pitches to hit. To pick up his 10th win of the season, Lee needed 120 pitches to go 7 23 innings, allowing four runs and 11 strikeouts. For Lee it was his eighth double-digit strikeout game which ties him with Grover Cleveland Alexander for ninth-best in team history.
Ryan Madson struck out the side in the ninth for his 18th save.
The Phillies go for the series sweep over the Pirates on Sunday afternoon when Vance Worley (7-1, 2.02) takes on right-hander Jeff Karstens (8-5, 2.41). After the game the Phillies start August with a 10-game road trip to Colorado for three, San Francisco for four before finishing up in Los Angeles for three.
E-mail John R. Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JRFingerCSN.