April 30 -- HOTLANTA!

ATLANTA -- Happy Monday and greetings from Atlanta, home of CNN, Ted Turner (right) and Jimmy Carter. Last year, the former Prez actually made it to a few Phillies-Braves games. Chris Coste even robbed him of catching a foul ball behind home plate. True story.

Anyway, tonight marks the final game of April, and considering how the month began, it's remarkable the Phillies can finish with a 12-13 record. I've heard a lot of people say the Phillies, after starting 4-11, have gotten healthy on the sub-.500 Reds, Astros, Nationals and Marlins. And while that's true, it's hard to criticize them for beating teams they were supposed to beat. They're 8-3 in their last 11 games, a fine stretch regardless of the opponent. Now, facing Atlanta, San Francisco and Arizona on the road over the next 10 days will be a good test. Atlanta, in particular, has played well and will be throwing Tim Hudson tonight and two lefties (Mark Redman and the always-tough Chuck James) in the next two days. (Take note of the 7:35 p.m. start times on Tuesday and Wednesday).

One note on Ryan Howard before the Phillies' clubhouse opens to the media: I noticed a comment on today's game story about how there's little difference in Howard's power numbers from April 2006 to April 2007. But Howard batted .306 last April. He heads into the final game of this April with a .219 average. That's quite a difference.

More later.