--1B Ryan Howard ended a 42 at-bat postseason homerless drought with a solo shot in the sixth inning against Rays RHP Matt Garza. "It wasn't really anything mechanical," Howard said. "It's just seeing the ball and picking up the pitch and just reacting to it. It's been kind of a slow but steady process. I had some good swings out there tonight, and luckily for me, I was able to get a home run out of it. I'm feeling pretty good at the plate. It's definitely coming."
--LHP Jamie Moyer thought there was a chance his diving catch-and-flip was quick enough to catch Carl Crawford at first base to lead off the seventh inning Saturday night. Turned out, it was. After the game, and upon further review, first-base umpire Tom Hallion realized he made a mistake by calling Crawford safe after first baseman Ryan Howard snagged the ball with his bare hand. Crawford eventually scored in the inning. "Bang-bang play," Hallion said. "I tried to get the best angle on it, and it wound up being a great play by Jamie and Howard. Again, I really didn't get a sound to be able to judge. It winds up being a great play, and looking at a replay here, they just got him. Kudos for them, because they made a great play." --RHP Joe Blanton threw the first pitch of the 2008 season March 25 when the Oakland Athletics traveled to Japan to face the Boston Red Sox. It was an experience that Blanton believes will prepare him for his Game 4 start in the World Series on Sunday night. "There was a lot of media over there. It was a great experience," Blanton said Saturday while the Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays waited out the rain that delayed the start of Game 3. "I was the first one going out, so I was throwing the first pitch of the entire season. For me, it was kind of a big deal. There was just a lot of different things going on, kind of similar to this." Blanton has struggled against the Rays. He allowed four runs in six innings May 19 and is 2-3 with a 6.05 ERA in eight career starts against Tampa Bay.
--SS Jimmy Rollins was mired in a 4-for-48 slump in August, so he stopped taking batting practice. It worked. Rollins got hits in eight consecutive at-bats. This time, he tried the opposite approach. It seems to have worked, too. Rollins, 0-for-10 in the World Series and 3-for-31 in the last seven games, took additional swings in the batting cage after Friday's workout at Citizens Bank Park. He picked up two hits in his first two at-bats Saturday night. "I think it's good," manager Charlie Manuel said. "If you're swinging hard or something, then you should be trying to work to slow down your timing and slow your swing down. He's been swinging real hard, and he's chasing high fastballs."
BY THE NUMBERS: 3 -- Panamanian-born players to hit a home run in a World Series game after C Carlos Ruiz's solo shot in the second inning Saturday night.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We're in the World Series. Our guys became a star when they made the major leagues. They've been a star. Just because somebody introduces you and you get your picture on TV or something, if that's national exposure, that's all fine. But why don't we try to do something to get that exposure? If you do that, the other stuff will take care of itself. If we can look back and say we won the World Series, I guarantee they're going to get all the attention downtown with a parade." -- Phillies manager Charlie Manuel on the complaints of several of his players that only the starting lineups were introduced before Game 1 of the World Series.
