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Howard, Phillies look to halt slump against Padres

Aug 26, 2007 - 2:40 PM San Diego (70-58) at Philadelphia (66-62) 1:35 pm EDT

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Phillies picked the wrong time to start slumping.

The Phillies will hope to snap a four-game losing streak when they host the San Diego Padres on Sunday in the finale of a three-game series.

Due to its struggles, Philadelphia has fallen to seven games back of the New York Mets (73-55) in the National League East and four games behind the Padres in the wild card.

If the Phillies want to get out of this current funk, they will need more production from Ryan Howard. The reigning NL Most Valuable Player is homerless in his last 11 games, going 8-for-43 (.186) with just two extra-base hits and five RBI over that stretch.

Howard's .258 batting average this season is well below his .313 mark from last year.

Philadelphia will send rookie Kyle Kendrick (6-3, 4.06 ERA) to the mound. The 22-year-old has lost three of his last five decisions.

Kendrick did win his last outing, yielding four runs and seven hits over 6 2/3 innings in a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.

The Padres will counter with Tim Stauffer (0-0, 17.18), who will make his second start of the season.

Stauffer had an interesting first start, surrendering seven runs over 3 2/3 innings but still watched his team post an 18-11 triumph over the Houston Astros on July 29.

San Diego, who sits two games behind Arizona in the NL West, is 4-1 on a six-game East Coast swing.