Phillies Notes: Petco Park lets Phillies be aggressive

SAN DIEGO - Petco Park doesn't offer an advantage just for the home team's pitchers.

"The fortunate thing about playing in a field like this, you can be more aggressive," Phillies righthander Joe Blanton said. "If you miss over the middle . . . it's a good park to be aggressive in. You can just focus on getting the ball down and make some good things happen."

For a pitcher such as Blanton, who does not strike out many batters, this isn't a bad place to take the mound. The Phillies' No. 4 starter continued his recent streak of good pitching with six innings of one-run ball Saturday in a 3-1 victory.

Since the all-star break, Blanton has a 3.41 ERA in nine starts. He has gone at least six innings in eight of those starts.

Blanton could have gone beyond six innings Saturday, but Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for him with runners on the corners and one out in the seventh. Blanton had thrown just 73 pitches.

Blanton started walking to the plate after Carlos Ruiz was intentionally walked. Manuel called Blanton back and sent Mike Sweeney up. Sweeney hugged Blanton.

Then, Sweeney beat out a potential double-play ball to tack on another Phillies run.

Blanton's teammates supported him all day, especially in the field. In the third, Chris Denorfia led off with a double. Nick Hundley crushed one to third, but Placido Polanco made a diving stop, looked the runner back to second, and threw to first. Blanton induced two more grounders to Polanco to strand Denorfia.

In the fifth, Blanton was burned by opposing pitcher Jon Garland, who hit a two-out single to left to tie the game. It could have been worse when David Eckstein followed with a single up the middle. But Shane Victorino threw Hundley out at home.

"That was perfect," Blanton said. "You can't throw one much better than that. He got it quick, threw it quick. It was a perfect strike home. Brian Schneider blocked the plate. It was perfectly executed."

He smiled.

"When you get plays like that," Blanton said, "it makes you comfortable to go at hitters."

Blanton is pitching well, but said he still doesn't feel as good as he did last season, when at times, he was quite possibly the Phillies' best starter.

"I would say last year I still felt a little bit better," Blanton said. "I'm constantly working this year to get it going. I feel like every outing is getting better. I'm starting to get into a groove."

On Friday, Ryan Howard became the second-quickest player to reach 1,000 strikeouts. Howard fanned three times to give him 1,001 strikeouts in 843 career games.

The only player to achieve that inglorious feat in fewer games was Rob Deer, who struck out 1,000 times in his first 828 games.

Of course, Howard and Deer likely will be surpassed by Arizona's Mark Reynolds, who had 732 strikeouts in 538 games entering Saturday's game.

Howard was 0 for 4 Saturday without a strikeout. Since returning from the disabled list, he is hitting .121 (4 for 33) with 16 whiffs.

Native San Diegan Cole Hamels will start Sunday as the Phillies attempt to sweep the Padres. In three career starts at Petco Park, Hamels is 1-1 with a 2.18 ERA. . . . Since July 1, the Phillies have played 10 extra-inning games, the most in the majors. This season, they have played 17 extra-inning games, tied for the most with the San Francisco Giants. They are 11-6. . . . On Friday, Ruiz caught two runners stealing in the second inning. It was the first time since Sept. 15, 2007 that a Phillies catcher caught two runners stealing in one inning. Chris Coste did it against the Mets.