After Joe Blanton was sent to the DL yesterday, Vance Worley was called up to fill in against the Mets.  Worley definitely proved that he has what it takes to pitch in the majors.

And the Phillies certainly challenged him in the first inning.  Both Placido Polanco and Jimmy Rollins committed rare errors in the first to extend the inning.  But Worley did not get rattled and eventually coaxed a double play ball to end the inning.

That inning increased Worley’s pitch count, but he still managed to go six innings while allowing only two hits.  Despite four walks, Worley shut-out the Mets and got his first major league win of the year.  Worley also singled in the game, which was his first major league hit.

However, most of the fireworks at the plate were provided by Ryan Howard who is now tied for 2nd with Del Ennis for Phillies all-time home runs.  Howard’s 259 home runs are second only to Mike Schmidt who ended his career with 548.

It took Howard two homers to match the record tonight.  The first shot went into the second deck in right field for 2-RBI.  The second was a grand slam in the sixth inning, which is the 10th slam of Howard’s career.

Howard came up again in the seventh with the bases loaded, but back-to-back slams were just not meant to be.  Sadly, he struck out.

But Ben Francisco helped out in the game as well with two hits and two RBI in the game.  And Rollins had another two-hit game, officially announcing his emergence from an early season slump.  Raul Ibanez, on the other hand, has not had a hit in 30 consecutive at-bats.

Another record was set tonight as well.  Polanco recorded his 39th hit in the month of April, setting a new Phillies team record.  Chase Utley held the previous record with 38 hits in April of 2008.  And Polly is not done yet…still one more game to go in April.

The bullpen, including newcomer Michael Stutes, held down most of the Phillies huge lead and they went on to win by a score of 10-3.  Game two is Saturday at 1:10pm and Roy Halladay will pitch.

***Important Blog FYI:  The entire MLBlogs community is going to be switched to a WordPress format beginning on Friday, May 6.  The transition may last through Monday night, May 9.  All MLBlogs writers will be unable to post and you will be unable to access any MLBlogs during this transition.  So do not panic if this and other blogs suddenly disappear during that weekend…we will be back :O)***

Go Phillies!

 

Player photos by Jenn Zambri Photography

*Read more about the Phillies at my other home page, Phightin’ Phils Phorum in the MTR Media network*