That ones well hit is how Harry Kalas started off his Home Run call today of Ryan Howards 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!

Howards 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 weve 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 Id 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 wouldnt have a problem with this if they hit like 300 HR this year but cmon, 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 dont ask him to coach your sons little league game because there aint 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