Howard Homers as Phillies Edge Dodgers

Ryan Howard homered for his first RBI of the season and Joe Blanton pitched eight effective innings to lead the Philadelphia Phillies over the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Monday night.

Jimmy Rollins also went deep and Jonathan Papelbon retired pinch-hitter Adam Kennedy on an easy popup with a runner at third to end it. The last-place Phillies have won three straight and get ace Roy Halladay back from the disabled list Tuesday night after missing seven weeks with a lat injury.

Howard, the 2006 NL MVP who averaged 132.7 RBIs over the previous six seasons and led the NL three times with 140 or more, missed Philadelphia's first 84 games because of the ruptured left Achilles tendon he sustained while grounding out to end last year's NL division series against St. Louis.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)