Phillies’ win fueled by homers

In a Phillies promotion, many fans dressed in colorful '70s clothes and outlandish wigs tonight. Two people flashed peace signs and carried a sign that read Impeach Nixon.

Perhaps inspired by the leisure-suit atmosphere - and by '70s music that blared through Citizens Bank Park between innings - Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard got into the spirit of the event.

He came disguised as Willie Stargell.

Howard smashed a two-run, fourth-inning home run to left-center off Greg Maddux - who has been around so long he almost pitched in the '70s - to trigger an 8-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in front of an animated crowd of 42,620.

Chris Coste and Chase Utley also homered for the Phils, who broke out of a hitting slump and scored their most runs since July 31.

Kyle Kendrick (11-7), rebounding from consecutive horrendous starts, pitched 52/3 solid innings and notched the win.

The Phils, who had been averaging just 3.2 runs per game in August, roughed up Maddux in his first start since being acquired Tuesday from the San Diego Padres.

Maddux, 42, surrendered seven runs in 52/3 innings. He was removed after Coste slammed a three-run homer to give the Phils a 7-1 lead.

Howard entered the night hitting .086 in his last 10 games, during which he had struck out 18 times in 35 at-bats.

"I want him to get back to swinging like he did two years ago," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said before the game, referring to the season in which Howard hit .313 with 58 homers and 149 RBIs. Back then, "he was just concentrating on hitting it hard, and it was going out of the ballpark. When he gets back to that thought process, he'll hit .300 again. I want him back to that cut."

Manuel said he and Howard have been studying video of the first baseman's 2006 season.

"The mental part is huge," Manuel said. "Ted Williams said 90 percent is from the head up - and I wouldn't argue with Ted Williams

Until Howard unloaded, the Phillies' offensive funk continued. They managed just one hit - an infield single by Geoff Jenkins - in the first 32/3 innings. But Pat Burrell fouled off several pitches before walking on a full count, and Howard ripped a 2-0 pitch deep into the seats in left to give the Phils a 2-1 lead. It was his 34th homer - tying him with Arizona's Adam Dunn for the league lead - and his first home run in his last eight games.

The Phils added a run on Coste's RBI single in the fifth, but they wasted a bases-loaded, one-out threat as Jimmy Rollins popped out to shallow left and Utley took a called third strike.

Kendrick, who will turn 24 on Tuesday, pitched much more aggressively than in his previous two starts, when he nibbled, fell behind in the count, and had a 16.71 ERA.

The 6-foot-3 righthander allowed just one run and three hits before being relieved by Chad Durbin with runners on first and second and two outs in the sixth. Durbin retired Russell Martin on a pop-up to shallow right, preserving the Phillies' 3-1 lead.