Utley, Howard help Phils to second win over Reds

CINCINNATI - Players smiled a little easier yesterday inside the visitor's clubhouse at Great American Ball Park.

Two days. Two wins.

Wait a second, isn't that a . . . ?

"That's what we call a winning streak," Phillies centerfielder Aaron Rowand said after yesterday's 9-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

"Imagine that," manager Charlie Manuel said. "It was a long time coming, wasn't it?"

Ah, yes. A nice little winning streak. The Phillies (6-11) won back-to-back games for the first time this season - they hadn't gone this long into a season without winning back-to-back games since 1982, when they needed 22 games to accomplish the feat - and also won their first series of the season. The Phillies are 2-0 since Manuel called a team meeting Saturday, and they returned to Philadelphia with positive results for themselves as they begin a seven-game homestand tonight against the Houston Astros at Citizens Bank Park.

"We still haven't played to how we're capable of," said Rowand, who went 2 for 4 with a walk to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. "But the last two days we've gotten closer. There's still a heck of a lot of room for improvement. We know it, and that's what we're striving for.

"I'll tell you right now that meeting the other day had an effect already. I can tell you right now. I can't tell you whether we're going to win games tomorrow or the next day or not because we've got to go out and play. But I can tell you right now, just in what's going on around here, that it definitely had an effect."

He said it created an upbeat feeling, a positive vibe.

"You can see it in how we were playing," said first baseman Ryan Howard, who hit a two-run homer run in the ninth. "Everybody was loose. The pitchers were loose. The hitters were loose. We hit with runners in scoring position today. It showed the last two days."

Here's what showed up yesterday:

The Phillies pitched better, allowing just six hits and two walks.

Freddy Garcia was central to the pitching effort, going five-plus innings to pick up his first win as a Phillie.

The Phillies hit in the clutch, going 4 for 12 with runners in scoring position.

They played smart and aggressively.

Shane Victorino hit a one-out single in the first and moved to third on a run-and-hit when Chase Utley doubled to right. Howard knocked in Victorino on a sacrifice fly to center, and Utley scored on a single by Wes Helms to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead. The Phillies scored two more runs in the third to make it 4-0.

Garcia (1-1) didn't allow a run until the fourth. In five-plus innings, the righthander allowed four hits and two runs. He struck out three as his fastball often hit 91 to 92 m.p.h.

He hit 95 m.p.h. once in the fifth inning.

"I'm feeling really good," Garcia said. "We won. That's what it's about. But I'm kind of disappointed, because we got a four-run lead and I couldn't go more than five innings. I don't like that. When they score three or four runs, I have to go six or seven innings. But I'm feeling good. My fastball feels better every time I pitch. Last year, I threw more off-speed pitches, but I have to learn to throw my fastball more. I'm getting stronger. I'm getting back my power."

That would be a bonus for the Phillies' rotation. Garcia threw 89 pitches. Manuel said that later in the season Garcia would be able to pitch longer, but that this was just his second start after coming back from right biceps tendinitis.

Garcia allowed a leadoff double and hit a batter in the sixth, and lefthander Matt Smith took over with the Phillies holding a 4-1 lead. Smith got two outs, but also loaded the bases with a walk to Adam Dunn. Geoff Geary came in and Edwin Encarnacion singled to right to score a run. The Reds tried to score two on the play, but Victorino threw out Brandon Phillips at the plate to end the inning.

"That was the play of the game right there," Manuel said.

There were other good signs. Utley and Howard went a combined 3 for 6 with four RBIs, two walks and four runs scored. Antonio Alfonseca pitched a scoreless eighth to lower his ERA to 0.84.

Howard could be seen saying, "About damn time!" when he homered in the ninth.

That feeling was everywhere yesterday.

"It's tough when you don't get a lot of breaks," Howard said. "Not only myself, but the team. But the way we played the last two days is kind of [indicative] of that. To be able to kind of catch a break and hit the ball solid is a pretty good feeling."

Check out Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki's blog at http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/zozone/.

Listen to his Phillies podcast at http://go.philly.com/philliescast.

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