Hail the RBI King!

Tonight, Ryan Howard became the first Phillies' player ever to have 80 RBIs before the all-star break. His 80th rbi was tonight's go-ahead run against the Cardinals in the 8th inning. Howard hit is 13th solo home run of the year (25th total) and he also added an RBI single.

Howard doesn't have as many home runs as he did in 2006 at the all-star break (28), but he does have 9 more RBIs (80-71) and we still have four games left. Also, Howard has always been substantially better after the all-star break in his career. The biggest knock to Howard's average has been his poor performance with no one on. Before tonight's solo home run, Howard came in to the game hitting 29-174 (.167) with 67 strikeouts and only 16 walks. He did have 12 solo home runs.

Howard just needs runners on to produce:
Runners On: 50-169 (.295) 12 home runs, 67 RBIs.
Scoring Position: 38-112 (.339) 9 home runs, 58 RBIs.
Scoring Position, 2 outs: 20-58 (.345) 3 home runs, 25 RBIs.

Howard does have only 10 hits in 60 at-bats, with 30 strike outs in close and late situations, I think those situations have been magnified, but he definitely was "clutch" tonight. J.A. Happ pitched well for the Phillies as he earned his first career quality start. He likely should have been pulled before the seventh inning for the "best" bullpen in baseball, but Manuel watched his starter get in a little bit of trouble before he yanked him.

Happ did not earn his first career win tonight, but the Phillies did beat the Cardinals 4-2 with late inning heroics by Ryan Howard and Pedro Feliz. Also, it should be noted that tonight's winning pitcher, Clay Condrey, pitched a remarkable 8th inning as he struck out the side.