1B Tommy Joseph was 2-for-4 and clubbed his 17th home run of the season Wednesday. He has three homers over his past nine games. Joseph is batting .305 with six doubles, nine home runs, 19 RBIs, 12 walks and 19 runs in his past 35 games.

INF Tommy Joseph hit his 15th home run, a solo shot in the eighth inning off Dodgers RHP Pedro Baez. Joseph has the most homers by a Phillies rookie since Ryan Howard cranked 22 in 2005. Joseph is batting .325 with seven home runs, four doubles and 15 RBIs in his past 26 games since July 4.

1B Tommy Joseph drove in what proved to be the decisive run with a two-out single in the eighth Friday night. He is hitting .324 (24-for-74) over his last 22 games since July 4 with four doubles, six homers and 13 RBIs.

1B Tommy Joseph went 2-for-5 with a solo homer. Over the past 17 games, Joseph is hitting .375 (21-for-56) with six homers and 12 RBIs.

1B Tommy Joseph homered for the second time in as many nights Tuesday, part of a 2-for-3 night against Miami. "He took that called third strike with (a runner at third to end the sixth), which I didn't like, but I've got to like him," manager Pete Mackanin said. "I think he's going to improve as we go along." Joseph, a rookie, started out hot when he was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on May 13, then went into a deep slump. Over his past nine games, he is hitting .500 with five homers and eight RBIs, raising his average to .264. He has 13 homers in his first 171 plate appearances, the fastest pace in club history, and he is one of only six major-leaguers since 2000 to go deep that many times in their first 171 times at the plate.

1B Tommy Joseph hit a solo homer off Miami RHP Jose Fernandez on Monday, the rookie's 12th homer in 48 games with Philadelphia this season. According to Elias, he is only the fourth Phillie with that many homers in his first 48 games with the team. The converted catcher also continues to make a case for himself as the long-term solution at his position, with Ryan Howard in decline. The Phillies are also high on Rhys Hoskins, who has excelled this season at Double-A Reading.

1B Tommy Joseph celebrated his 25th birthday Saturday but did not play against the Mets. He has, however, celebrated a renaissance of late. The rookie hit .323 in his first 21 games, then went into an 8-for-70 slump (.114) over his next 19 to slip to .215. In seven games since he has gone 11-for-22, bringing his average to .255. "They were throwing hard in and soft away, and he didn't know which way to go," manager Pete Mackanin said. "You get caught in between, but when you start becoming a little bit smarter, you say, 'I'm not going to let them get me out with sliders away and fastballs in,' so you pick one side of the plate, to where (you say), 'OK, I'll let them get me out away, but if they come in, I'm not going to miss it' -- or vice versa. Little mind games you have to play. ... He's making some adjustments."

1B Tommy Joseph went 4-for-4 with a double and a homer, double, three runs scored and finished a triple shy of the cycle. The four hits are a career high, and Joseph has homered in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. He hit a three-run, pinch-hit homer in the seventh that gave the Phillies the lead in their 5-3 win Friday and became the first Phillies rookie to hit a pinch-hit, game-winning home run in the seventh inning or later since Mike Rogodzinski on June 25, 1973.

NEW YORK -- Stephen Strasburg completed an unbeaten first half of the season Friday night, when the right-handed pitcher allowed one run over seven strong innings to earn the win as the Washington Nationals beat the New York Mets 3-1 at Citi FieldThe Mets lost for just the second time in nine games, but it was a costly defeat. A pair of All-Stars, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and right-handed pitcher Noah Syndergaard, left with injuries. Cespedes exited after the third inning with a strained right quad while Syndergaard left with two outs in the fifth due to arm fatigue.Clint Robinson hit a two-run homer in the second for the Nationals while Daniel Murphy continued to dominate his former team with an RBI double in the third. Murphy is batting .409 with five homers and 15 RBIs this season against the Mets, with whom he played the first seven seasons of his career before signing with Washington in December.Angels 9, Orioles 5BALTIMORE -- Daniel Nava had a pair of RBIs and leaping grab to rob... [More]

1B Tommy Joseph snapped an 0-for-18 streak with a double to straightaway center field in the second inning off Braves starter Jose De La Cruz on Monday. He finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored to raise his average to .223.

1B Tommy Joseph continues to struggle at the plate. He went 0-for-3 Saturday night and his average is now down to .216. In his last 17 games, the rookie first baseman is just 8-for-66. That's good for a .121 average.

1B Tommy Joseph was given a day off Tuesday after going 0-for-5 Monday to extend his hitless streak to 16 at-bats. Joseph, who was promoted when 1B/OF Darin Ruf was optioned out, made his major league debut on May 13 and started hot, becoming the first Phillies player in at least 100 years to hit seven homers in his first 21 games. "He's going through a little bit of a rut," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "I foresee him bouncing back and getting back on track. It is the adjustments you make in the big leagues. Big league pitchers take notice. They find a weakness they might want to attack, and they start attacking it, and if that is in fact a weakness, then it is up to that hitter to come back and make the adjustment."

1B Tommy Joseph was a late scratch from the starting lineup Thursday because of an illness. Joseph is expected to be fine for the team's three-game series in San Francisco that starts Friday.

1B Tommy Joseph was a late scratch from the starting lineup because of an illness.

1B Tommy Joseph went 0-for-4 Wednesday against Toronto and is hitless in his last 16 at-bats, leaving the rookie's average at .259. He was, however, robbed of a hit on a terrific play by Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson in the sixth, and flew out to the left-field wall earlier in the game. "I didn?t think he'd be a .330 hitter," Manager Pete Mackanin said before the game. "He's going to have his ups and downs, like anybody else. I'm not overly concerned about that. He's got a good approach. He doesn't have a lot of flaws in his swing. It's just recognizing pitches."

1B Tommy Joseph was told by manager Pete Mackanin before Friday's game he was the new first baseman over slumping Ryan Howard. Joseph has a big bat, but there will be some growing pains at first base on the defensive side of the ball for the former catcher. The winning rally Sunday by the Nationals was aided in the ninth when pinch-hitter Bryce Harper reached on an infield single with one out in the ninth. The call stood after a challenge by Mackanin as Joseph tried to touch the bag with his foot twice. "I believe if he didn't go back with his foot to touch it," Mackanin said. "If the side of his foot was touching the base he was definitely out, but he went back, it's like when a guy tags a guy but then goes back to tag him even though he didn't tag him the first time, it looks like he didn't. I believe, from what I saw on the replays, if he didn't go back with his foot, I believe they would've called him out." Said Joseph of the call: "I wasn't sure. It was too close. I couldn't feel it. Obviously if I couldn't feel it, that's why I went back and tried to tag him. I saw the replay on the board. I don't think I need to look at it. I think they got the call right."

1B Tommy Joseph was told by manager Pete Mackanin before Friday's game he was the new first baseman over slumping Ryan Howard. After hitting two home runs on Friday, Joseph came back to Earth and was 1-for-4 Saturday and has a .319 average.

1B Tommy Joseph was told by manager Pete Mackanin before Friday's game he was the new first baseman over slumping Ryan Howard. Joseph went out and hit two homers in a game for the first time, with one off Stephen Strasburg. "He's the best," Joseph said of Howard. "He's been great, very easy to talk to. He's been there for me every step of the way. Whenever I need anything he's there. He's a good guy to learn from, too. Obviously the guy has been in the game for over a decade now, so he's seen a lot of different things, and he's a guy I can go talk to about certain situations in the game." Joseph went deep again Strasburg in the third. "He's a hard-throwing guy," said Joseph, a former catcher. "He doesn't have any sort of pattern. He does a very good job throwing backwards, throwing forwards, doing a lot of different things along those lines. So really you've got to pick a side of the plate with that guy."

1B Tommy Joseph has started five straight games over 1B Ryan Howard. He extended his hitting streak to a team-best four games (7-for-16) on Sunday with an RBI double in the fifth. The ruling on the field was a three-run home run but it was later overturned for fan interference. Since being called up on May 13, Joseph is batting .298 with seven RBIs and four home runs.

1B Tommy Joseph followed up two straight multi-hit games with a towering home run in his first at-bat Saturday. The rookie has hit four home runs since being called up May 13 and is in line to see more of the workload at first base while Ryan Howard continues to struggle.