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Phillies seek 10th straight win at San Diego

Apr 23, 2011 - 3:11 PM (Sports Network) - The Philadelphia Phillies seem to enjoy the spacious confines of San Diego's Petco Park as evidenced by their nine-game winning streak there. Tonight, the Phils look to make it 10 in a row against the Padres in southern California in the third test of a four-game series.

The Phillies blanked San Diego, 3-0, in the series opener behind six shutout innings from Roy Oswalt and two homers from Ben Francisco and Brian Schneider. Cole Hamels followed that performance with eight scoreless frames and eight strikeouts in last night's 2-0 decision.

Ryan Madson earned his first save with a strikeout in the ninth for the Phillies, whose offense was highlighted by Ryan Howard's two-run triple in the third inning. Howard had two hits and even Hamels notched a pair of singles in his hometown.

"When you start a game, you want to finish it. That's always been my mind set. Unfortunately, the pitch counts get in the way," said Hamels, who logged 126 pitches. "But at the same time, it does protect you through a long season and it's still early."

Philadelphia has won three in a row overall and is 13-1 in the past 14 visits to Petco Park, where the Phillies sport an all-time record of 20-4. The Phillies lead the majors with five shutouts this season and will visit Arizona for three games on the road trip.

Joe Blanton is the forgotten man in the Phillies rotation with Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Oswalt and Hamels toeing the rubber before him. Blanton is 0-1 with a 7.27 earned run average in three starts this season and will take the ball tonight for the first time since a no-decision versus Milwaukee on Monday.

Blanton held the Brewers to a pair of runs on seven hits in seven innings, while striking out four and walking one batter. The bulky right-hander has a winning record against San Diego in his career, going 2-1 with a 5.32 ERA in the initial four starts.

The Padres are 0-2 on a seven-game homestand and have dropped four of five games to fall to just 8-12 on the season. In Friday's blanking at the hands of the Phillies, Padres starter Clayton Richard pitched well but was dealt the loss for giving up Howard's big triple and six hits over 7 1/3 innings.

"Hitters like him, they'll get their doubles, triples, home runs -- they'll get those things," Richard said of Howard. "It's minimizing the damage before that, not putting guys on."

Cameron Maybin had the lone extra-base hit with a double for San Diego. Padres third baseman Chase Headley had a pinch-hit single and did not start because of flu-like symptoms.

San Diego will also welcome Atlanta to Petco Park for three games.

Still searching for his first win of the season, Padres starter Tim Stauffer will take the ball tonight versus the Phillies. Stauffer has recorded consecutive no-decisions since losing to San Francisco on April 6, and is coming off Monday's 1-0 loss at the Chicago Cubs.

Stauffer hurled seven shutout innings and allowed four hits with four K's and one walk, and is 0-1 with a 3.27 ERA in four starts. The righty will make his third career start against Philadelphia and is 0-1 with a less desirable 16.39 ERA in this series.