Some interesting stuff from tonight's national broadcast.  Joe Morgan informed us that Ryan Howard is hitting an astounding .458 on balls put in play this year.  That's amazing...and while I'll admit that Howard's striking out is way too frequent and annoying, that number alone should earn him reprise.  Milt Thompson, please work on one thing and one thing alone with this guy...making contact!  In the early part of the season, when Howard was struggling to keep his average over the Mendoza line, a lot of talk was made about how the shift they play against him really bothered him...well based on that number, it can't bother him all that much.  I was a big fan of him learning how to bunt so that they could stop playing that shift, but if he can maintain anything near a .400 average on BAPIB, I'll keep my mouth shut.

Second, though it got mightily scary at the end, Brad Lidge is now 28 for 28 in save opportunities, and much more important, the Phils are an awesome 50-0 with a lead going into the 9th.  Those are some good numbers to have right now.  I'm sure Mets fans would like numbers like those rather than the 7 blown saves Billy's got for them.

Finally, it seems Shane Victorino woke up at the beginning of July and found a nice present under his pillow in the form of JRoll's 2007 Recipe for Performing Way Over Your Ability.  Good for him, especially amidst all the trade rumors he probably heard over that month.  Now if only he'd share will all his teammates, including Mr. MVP himself.