Hello, all. Welcome to a new baseball season.The Phillies are about ready to take the field here at Citizens Bank Park, but I wanted to pass along a few notes before the game. First, in a surprise lineup decision, Charlie Manuel has Ryan Howard (left) batting third and Chase Utley (right) batting cleanup. This is a departure from the second half of last season and all of spring training when Utley batted ahead of Howard. Manuel said the idea is to get Howard a few extra at-bats, and while there is evidence that a No. 3 hitter will get more ABs over the course of a season than a cleanup hitter, you have to believe this move is intended primarily to get better protection for Howard. Pat Burrell, the No. 5 hitter all spring, is still batting fifth today. But, now, Burrell is batting behind Utley rather than Howard. Personally, I like the move. I only wonder why Charlie didn't do this during the final weeks of last season. It's hard to imagine Howard drawing as many intentional walks if Utley was batting behind him instead of Burrell, Jeff Conine or David Dellucci.
In addition, RHP Joe Bisenius earned the final roster spot.
More on that, and everything else related to the Phillies, in tomorrow's News Journal. More on the game as it develops.
1 comment:
Can't the NJ do a story on the Blue Rocks? You guys have no grasp of what people are interested in. Poor high school coverage, no Blue Rocks coverage. What a rag. Nice job of taking over, levine. You're an all star
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