“That one’s well hit” is how Harry Kalas started off his Home Run call today of Ryan
Howard’s MONSTER shot hit in the second inning. Personally I prefer the “Swing and
a long drive” calls myself, but who cares about that right now!

Howard’s Home Run traveled nearly 500 ft. as it went screaming over the center
field wall, over the grass, over the Giant Brick wall, and into Ashburn alley. That was only the first of two today as in his next at bat, pitcher Sergio Mitre, served up
another one that Howard took over the left field wall – this kid has unbelievable
power and we’ve barely scratched the surface. Howard knocked in 3 runs today
leading the Phillies to a 4-2 victory, splitting the series with the Marlins.

Brett “Please pitch everyday” Myers pitched 6 strong innings allowing two runs on
six hits and striking out 5 on his way to victory number two this season. The Firm of
Franklin, Rhodes, and Gordon closed it out for Myers.

Flash Gordon struck out the sides for the second consecutive outing and has looked
absolutely tremendous here in the early going. He (Gordon) picked up his 5th save
of the year and lowered his ERA to 1.17 and has 13Ks in 7+ innings. If you are
curious Billy Wagner has 4 saves and a 1.00 ERA, but has less strikeouts in more
innings – just thought I’d mention that..Love ya Billy!

Now the negatives:

Phils were only able to muster 6 hits off a guy who only throws fastball/changeup
AND who was all over the place with his control. David Dellucci and Abraham Nunez
continue to struggle, both hitting well below the Mendoza line with D-Squared
hitting 111. Also, 59% of the Phillies runs this year are scored via the Home Run.
Now, I wouldn’t have a problem with this if they hit like 300 HR this year but c’mon,
seriously.

The same problems remain that have been lingering around now for 3 years.
1.) Slow starts – we seem to always have a losing record in April
2.) No Pitching – with the exception of Myers, Gordon, and (gulp, knock on wood)
Cormier!!! This staff has really struggled.
3.) Can not manufacture runs – they lack the fundamentals to make them a playoff
team
4.) Intangibles – a nicer way of me saying Manuel is a poor game day coach. Seems
like a nice guy and would love to have him over for dinner, just don’t ask him to
coach your son’s little league game because there ain’t no DH in T-ball.

Until this team figures out a way to get past or correct these problems, all the
Phillies are is an 85-win team.

So as I heard someone once say – Pennants cannot be won in April, but the certainly
can be lost.

Please contact Mark Constan with questions or comments at
mconstan@phillysportsline.com

Mark Constan PhillySportsline.com staff writer.