(Sports Network) - The Phillies have been living by the long ball this year, even with Ryan Howard struggling. However, the former National League MVP is starting to heat up, and will try to homer in a third straight game tonight when Philadelphia opens up interleague play with the opener of a three-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays at Citizens Bank Park.

Howard is currently in the midst of a seven-game hit streak, and has gone deep in back-to-back games and three times total over his current run. He was batting .163 before the run and has now upped his average to a still disappointing .185.

The slugging first baseman thrives on the long ball, though, as he hit 58 during his MVP campaign in 2006 and followed up with 47 last year. He has nine home runs in 42 games this year and has homered once in three career games versus Toronto.

Howard, who had six homers in interleague play last year, was one of three Phillies to go long in Thursday's 5-0 victory over Atlanta. Pedro Feliz and Shane Victorino also homered to help the Phils take two of three against the Braves.

Philadelphia leads the majors with 59 homers and the offensive outburst backed Cole Hamels' first career shutout. Hamels (5-3) allowed only four hits and two walks, striking out six. He retired 16 of the first 17 batters he faced, including 15 straight for Philadelphia, which is 5-5 in its last 10 games and is a game back of Florida for first place in the NL East.

Jamie Moyer will try to rebound tonight from a horrid outing last time out for the Phillies. Moyer fell to 2-3 on the season after allowing six runs on nine hits in just four innings of work on Saturday in San Francisco, lifting his earned run average to 5.02.

Moyer has faced the Blue Jays 36 times in his career, 34 of those starts, due to the fact that he spent a great chunk of his career in the American League with Texas, Baltimore, Boston and mostly Seattle. Lifetime versus Toronto, the 45-year-old is 13-8 with two complete games and a 5.31 ERA.

The left-hander is 17-10 in interleague play with a 3.01 ERA.

Due to a doubleheader on Monday and no off day since, the Blue Jays are expected to recall David Purcey from Triple-A Syracuse for a spot start tonight. Purcey did just that on April 18, when he made his major league debut in an outing against Detroit. The left-hander got a no-decision, giving up a run and two hits in 4 1/3 innings, but he struggled with his command and also walked seven.

The Blue Jays have won four in a row and completed a three-game sweep of Minnesota on Thursday with a 3-2, 11-inning victory. Former Phillie Scott Rolen drove in a run and scored the go-ahead run on Joe Inglett's pinch-hit single in the 11th inning.

Shannon Stewart had a pair of hits for the Blue Jays, while Alex Rios also had an RBI. Rios is 7-for-16 (.438) in his career against Moyer with a homer and two RBI.

B.J. Ryan nailed down his seventh save of the year and helped improve Toronto to 4-3 on its current 10-game road trip.

Matt Stairs enjoyed facing the NL last year, as he hit .397 in interleague play with seven homers.

Philadelphia and Toronto have split six meetings over the previous two seasons. The Phillies went 8-7 in interleague play last year, while the Blue Jays ended 10-8.

However, both clubs are historically under .500 against the opposite league, as Philadelphia brings an 86-98 mark against the AL into tonight's test, while the Blue Jays are 93-100 versus the Senior Circuit.