IT'S TOO LATE

We won a road game! I'll feel better if we win the series, naturally, but I'll take it. Ryan Howard had a career night, smacking four hits, including a solo smash off the forgettable Brett Tomko. The Phillies sprinted to a 5-1 lead early and put the game away with a four-run seventh and added a single run in the ninth for a 10-2 final. Vicente Padilla went eight strong innings to continue his mid-season run of excellence. The Astros lost again, so we're back in front for the wild card. I wish I could stay up tonight, but I know if I did, we'd lose in some hideous fashion in extra innings and I'd spend all day tomorrow alternately exhausted and in a state of despair and regret. Not that that would be any different than usual, but still.