St. Louis native Ryan Howard thrives any time he returns to the Gateway City.  Last night was no different as strong pitching and a Howard-led offense gave the Phillies a 6-1 victory.

The Good:
- Starter Joe Blanton went six innings allowing one run on four hits.  Blanton cruised through five innings, only to run into a jam in the sixth.  After retiring Chris Duncan, Blanton loaded the bases on a walk, hit batter, and a misplay in the infield.  Faced with the bases full of Cardinals and one out, Blanton stayed focused, striking out Tyler Greene and getting Brian Barden to hit into an inning ending ground out.

- Jayson Werth went 2 for 4.  His two-run home run in the fourth inning gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

- Howard hit his second grand slam in a week (the first coming last Tuesday against the Nationals),  the seventh of his career (tying Mike Schmidt for #1 all-time), off Kyle Lohse in the fifth inning giving the Phillies a 6-1 lead.  Just how good is Howard in St. Louis?  In 16 career games he has 28 RBI’s.

The Bad:
- Shane Victorino finished 1 for 5 with three strikeouts.

The Ugly:
- In the top of the eighth inning Pedro Feliz hit a smash to deep center field that was caught by a running Rick Ankiel.  After the catch Ankiel lost his footing and crashed head first into the wall.  Ankiel lied on the ground motionless for a couple minutes, before his neck being secured and carted off the field.  While Ankiel was being tended to the entire St. Louis crowd held their breath fearing the worst.  Things appear to be okay though, as Ankiel was being carted off the field, he gave the fans a thumbs up.  Not word as of yet on the extent of his injuries, but the fact he can move his arms is definitely a good sign.

Brett Myers (1-2, 4.83 ERA) takes the mound for the Phils.  Myers has gone at least six innings in all five of his starts this season, and hasn’t allowed more then three runs in each of his last three.  Myers has had his struggled against the Cardinals going 3-2 with a 5.19 ERA, including 1-1 with a 6.97 ERA at Busch Stadium.  Facing Myers will be Adam Wainwright.  Wainwright (3-0, 2.76), has only allowed more than three runs once this season and is 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA in his career against the Phillies.