Phillies blank Rockies behind Kendrick's gem

DENVER - If this start was Kyle Kendrick's final one of the season, and with the imminent return of Roy Oswalt there is little chance that it wasn't, he left himself one heck of a legacy.

For eight innings, the righthander dominated a lineup loaded with lefties in a ballpark in which he has never thrived, holding the Rockies to four hits while hurling the Phillies to a 5-0 victory last night.

He threw a career-high 117 pitches. He struck out a career-high seven.

And then he prepared to become a reliever.

"I'm just excited to be a part of this thing and help us win," said Kendrick, who improved to 6-5 with a 3.19 earned run average. "Getting Oswalt back is going to make us better."

Kendrick was making his last start before heading back to the bullpen in favor of Oswalt, who is expected to return from the disabled list this weekend. He made it a memorable one.

It was just another example of the peculiar spell this Phillies team has played under all season, not only enduring injuries, but finding a way to make themselves better in spite of them.

Last night, they improved to 70-39, putting them on pace for 104 victories - despite playing the last 5 weeks without Oswalt, and most of the last month without third baseman Placido Polanco, and the entire year without a No. 5 hitter like the newly acquired Hunter Pence, who went 2-for-3 with two doubles, an RBI and a walk.

They've also done it without the production that they are used to out of their big man. But Ryan Howard last night provided the latest indication that he might be starting one of his usual late-season tears.

Howard clubbed two home runs, one off Rockies starter Aaron Cook, the other off reliever Matt Lindstrom, to help pace the Phillies' offense.

Eleven of Howard's last 14 hits have gone for extra bases, including five homers in 44 at-bats. That stretch began with a game against the Padres at Citizens Bank Park on July 23, when Charlie Manuel kept him out of the starting lineup for just the second time all season. Howard was riding a rough stretch in which he had struck out nine times while managing just two hits (both singles) in 25 at-bats. His batting average had sunk to .246 and his on-base plus slugging percentage to an uncharacteristically pedestrian .789.

But Manuel called on Howard to pinch-hit in the seventh inning, and he responded with a game-tying home run.

It has been an anamalous season for Howard. His two home runs last night gave him 23 for the season, sixth in the National League despite the fact that he has yet to hit one against a lefthanded pitcher. He just wrapped up a month of July in which he hit .250 with a .306 on-base percentage, .440 slugging percentage, four home runs and 17 RBI, all of which are career lows for what has historically been one of his hottest months.

Yet his two RBI last night gave him 83, which place him just one behind league-leader Matt Kemp, of the Dodgers.

With everybody who takes the mound pitching like a Cy Young candidate and Pence now in the lineup, you can only imagine what a red-hot Howard would do for what is already looking like a historic regular season.

"It's been key," Howard said. "You can't talk about our pitching staff enough. They're just giving us opportunities as an offense and we're trying to take advantage."