Howard's homers crush Braves

By DAVID O'BRIEN

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Ryan Howard has been a Braves nemesis like few others in recent years, and he unloaded on them again Sunday night with a couple of mighty swings that gave Philadelphia a series win at Turner Field.

Howard hit a pair of home runs off Javier Vazquez to drive in all of Philadelphia's runs in a 4-1 win against the Braves in a rain-delayed series finale that didn't end until 12:28 a.m.

"He beat me today," Vazquez (10-8) said of Howard, whose three-run homer in the sixth broke a tie and sent the pitcher to his first loss in eight starts. "He's a powerful guy you've got to be careful with. I made two bad pitches."

Howard also hit a ninth-inning homer off Rafael Soriano in the series opener Friday, giving him the distinction of having all the biggest blows for the Phillies in a series they won two games to one.

It's not what the Braves had in mind when they entered the series with big goals, riding a five-game winning streak and hoping to trim the Phillies' lead in the National League East.

They had won seven of nine games and all three series against Philadelphia before this one.

"It doesn't help [playoff ambitions]," Braves first baseman Adam LaRoche said after falling to six games behind the Phillies and 1-1/2 behind second-place Florida in the division, and to 3-1/2 games off the NL wild-card lead.

"Going into the series we would've liked to have taken at least two out of three," LaRoche said. "It didn't work out. Today it was [pitcher J.A.] Happ and Howard. He shut us down and Howard did what he does."

NL Rookie of the Year candidate Happ (9-2) limited the Braves to one run and three hits in 7-2/3 innings, including a Matt Diaz homer in the fourth inning that tied the score after Howard's leadoff homer in the second.

The left-hander issued six walks and hit a batter, but Happ worked out of two jams by striking out Yunel Escobar with runners at second and third to end the first inning and getting Ryan Church on a bases-loaded fly to end the sixth.

The Braves left nine on base, but had runners in scoring position in only two innings.

"We had two run-scoring opportunities, and both of them came with two outs," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "We could have won all three [games]. The good thing is, we didn't get swept. We lost one game in the standings.

"We'd rather have gained one."

Howard pretty much quashed Atlanta momentum with his three big home runs in the series, giving him 27 homers, 79 RBIs and .332 average in 78 career games against the Braves.

"When he's hot, he's as dangerous as anyone in the league," Diaz said of Howard, who hit his 29th and 30th homers of the season, making him the fourth Phillies player to have least four 30-homer seasons.

Howard's 91 RBIs include 29 to put his team ahead, ranking second in the league in that category.

Vazquez was stung by an 0-and-1 fastball on the first homer by Howard, a leadoff shot in the second inning. But the one that really hurt was the 1-and-0 changeup that Howard belted with two on and one out in the sixth.

It was a chest-high pitch that Howard muscled over the right-field fence, putting the Phillies ahead 4-1.

"He's got 30 homers for a reason," said Vazquez, who had been 5-0 in his past seven starts, and given up only three homers in his past nine starts.

Vazquez said there was no reason for the Braves to sulk after the loss. With 46 games to play -- six against the Phillies -- they are tied with Chicago for fourth in the wild-card standings, 3-1/2 games behind leader Colorado.

"There's a lot of games to be played," he said. "We've got to keep fighting. We're playing well. We lost two games here; we could have won the first game. We're right there in the wild card, and six games out in the East."

Howard tied Dick Allen for third on the Phillies' career list with his 20th multi-homer game, three coming against the Braves. His 12 homers in 39 games at Turner Field are tied with Shea Stadium for his most outside of Philadelphia.