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Howard, Phillies look to remain red-hot against Marlins

Sep 23, 2006 - 1:55 PM Florida (76-78) at Philadelphia (80-73) 1:20 pm EDT

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- No team has served up more home runs to Ryan Howard than the Florida Marlins and that can only be a good thing for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Howard looks to continue pounding the Marlins' pitching staff Saturday afternoon in the second game of a three-game series.

Five of Philadelphia's remaining nine games are against Florida, a club the Phillies are 9-5 against this season. Part of that reason why Howard is having a tremendous sophomore campaign is because of the Marlins.

In 13 games against Florida, Howard is hitting .538 (21-for-39) with nine home runs and 18 RBI. He has also drawn 19 walks.

Howard's numbers vs. the Marlins are by far his best against any opponent, and the 26-year-old added to them with a three-run homer in Friday's 5-2 win. It was the major league-leading 58th homer for Howard and rookie lefthander Cole Hamels added 10 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings as the Phillies claimed their eighth win in 10 games.

Philadelphia is one-half game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League wild card and will see if Jon Lieber (8-10, 5.03 ERA) can help them move a step closer to its first postseason berth since 1993.

To do so, Lieber will need to rebound from his second-shortest outing of the season. The righthander lasted just 2 1/3 innings Monday as the Chicago Cubs tagged him for five runs and five hits in an 11-6 loss.

Before falling to 11-2 in his last 16 starts in September, Lieber had been 4-0 with a 3.10 ERA in his previous seven starts this season.

Florida, which has dropped seven of 10 to fall five games behind Los Angeles, counters with Brian Moehler (7-9, 6.09). Moehler is 0-4 with an 8.25 ERA in his last six starts.

Moehler's last start was Monday in New York, where he allowed three runs and five hits in five innings of a 4-0 loss.