That all led to a 7-5 victory for the Phillies over the Houston Astros in the opener of their four-game series Thursday night.

The Phillies gave Burrell the night off from starting after he had been mired in a 3-for-27 batting slump. He didn't expect manager Charlie Manuel to have him pinch-hit in the eighth.

"That kind of snuck up on me," Burrell said. "I was prepared. But I really didn't think they'd use me at that time."

Manuel and the Phillies are glad they did. Burrell led off the eighth inning with a pinch-hit home run off reliever Wesley Wright to break a 5-5 tie.

Chase Utley singled in the final run later in the frame, as the Phillies won their third straight.

Burrell understood why Manuel gave him the rest.

"Sometimes it's good to just get a day to give your mind a break," he said. "Just to kind of clear your mind. You want to play, but at the same time it's a 162-game schedule. Most players get a day off now and then, and today was one of those days for me. I haven't been swinging the bat that well."

Manuel wouldn't say whether Burrell would be back in the lineup Friday, but don't be surprised if he is.

"I'll go to the hotel and watch a movie and think about it," Manuel said with a grin. "Then I'll get up [Friday] and think about it some more."

The most dramatic matchup of the night was Lidge vs. the league's hottest hitter, Lance Berkman, in the ninth. Lidge, who had never faced his former team, said before the game he'd just as soon avoid such a matchup with the game on the line.

Afterwards, however, he admitted it was a dream scenario when it happened.

"It was a lot of fun for me," said Lidge, who now has converted 12 of 12 save opportunities. "I had a lot of adrenaline going. It doesn't get much better than that, a situation like that. It was power vs. power. I threw him a fastball away. I was just trying to do whatever he thought I wouldn't do."

Lidge coaxed Berkman into popping up to left field to end the game.

"Fastball," Berkman said. "It was probably about one ball too high. It's not like you have a whole lot of time to make up your mind. There's a reason why he's given up 10 hits in 22 innings. It's very difficult to square the ball up against him.

"I actually hit it as good as I could, but straight up in the air, so it didn't do us a whole lot of good."

Lidge had been the Astros' closer most of the last five years, before heading to Philadelphia in a trade for Michael Bourn, Geoff Geary and Mike Costanzo last November.

The fans gave Lidge a rousing round of boos and cheers as he went to the mound.

"I'm not surprised," Lidge said. "My head is down when I go out there and I'm not concerned with the fans when I come in. I think the fact I'm not as concerned with the fans probably helped me a little. There was a time when I was concerned [by] what the Houston fans thought -- but not anymore."

Lidge said he has had "a ton of great memories" in Minute Maid Park and admitted he was afraid he might get too pumped for this first appearance in a Phillies uniform.

"I was a little bit," he said. "I know I had a lot of adrenaline going. I just tried to step back off the mound a couple of times and gather my thoughts. I think I'm more mature now."

Ryan Howard doubled to drive in one run in the third. Pedro Feliz followed with an RBI single and Geoff Jenkins hit a sac fly RBI to lift the Phillies from a 2-1 deficit to a 4-2 lead.

Howard, who went 3-for-5, had a home run to the Crawford Boxes in the fifth inning that gave the Phillies a 5-2 lead. It was Howard's second straight three-hit game, lifting his average to .207.

"I'm feeling a little bit better," Howard said. "I'm just trying to go for a good week and taking it day by day."

Howard came up a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.

"It would have been nice," Howard said. "But with [Michael] Bourn in center field [for Houston], I knew it would be tough. I knew I'd have to hit it off one of the corners out there and get the pinball effect."