"When Phillies slugger Ryan Howard homered off Braves phenom Julio Teheran last Saturday in Teheran's major league debut, it was a welcome-to-the-bigs moment from a guy who has supplied plenty of them.

Teheran joined a lengthy list of Braves pitchers young and old who've been taken deep by Howard, who has hit more homers against the Braves than any team.

Howard had a .313 career average with 35 homers and 100 RBIs in 108 games against the Braves before Friday's series opener, with a .395 on-base percentage and .644 slugging percentage (1.039 OPS).

There was a time when it seemed former Braves manager Bobby Cox rarely had his pitchers intentionally walk Howard, who punished quite a few of them.

Howard hit .444 with six homers and 13 RBIs in a 10-game stretch against the Braves in 2006, including a three-homer game against Tim Hudson.

He had seven homers and 20 RBIs in a 13-game stretch against the Braves in 2007, and six homers with 20 RBIs in a 12-game tear against them in 2008.

Over five weeks in 2009, he hit eight homers in eight games against the Braves.

"He's a game-changer," said first-year Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, who had to make the Howard decision - pitch to him? - during 3-1/2 seasons managing the Marlins. "It all depends on who you have on the mound, who's your pitcher."