Phillies Win 3rd Straight thanks Howard & Utley

The bats could be back as Chase Utley and Ryan Howard looked like their old selves on Friday night as they bashed their way to victory.

The Philadelphia Phillies (35-30) defeated the AL-Central leading Minnesota Twins 9-5 last night at Citizens Bank Park. Ryan Howard led the offensive charge as he had a 4-4 night with two home runs and three RBIs and scored three runs as Howard fell a single shy of the cycle. It was Howard's first two home run game of the 2010 season.

It was a feel-good victory for the Phillies who weren't hitting much going into Wednesday night's game against the Yankees and now they have scored 22 runs since in three straight interleague victories.

Joe Blanton got the start on the night and he turned around his recent bad fortune on the mound by lasting a solid six innings while giving up three earned runs and seven hits. Blanton got off to a terrific start as he retired the 11 of the first 12 Minnesota batters.

There was quite a stir caused by first base coach Davey Lopes yesterday as he made a statement about Chase Utley saying that he had been playing with a sore knee, a statement that was rebuffed from all sides from Chase himself, to manager Charlie Manuel, all the way up to Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. who went as far as to say that Lopes isn't a doctor.

Well, the the added attention to Utley certainly didn't hurt his game as he broke out in a big way with a two-run home run in the second inning that put the Phillies up 7-0 at the time. Utley had gone 88 at-bats since his last home run.

Utley finished the game with two hits and drove in four runs in the four run victory.

One negative for the Phillies last night was the injury to catcher Carlos Ruiz which occurred in the eighth inning when he was hit in the head with a broken bat. Ruiz was down for a couple of minutes on the field before eventually walking off the field under his own power. Ruiz was taken to the hospital and there is no immediate word on his condition other than a possible concussion.

The Phillies have to be confident with the way the rest of this weekend will shake out pitching wise because they have Cole Hamels going today and Roy Halladay pitching tomorrow, looking to bounce back after the poor start on Tuesday against the New York Yankees.

First pitch for Phils/Twins today is set for 4:10 this afternoon.