Oct. 4 -- BLANTON & OTHER PREGAME NOTES

BY SCOTT LAUBER

MILWAUKEE -- Emptying my notebook after today's pregame session:

1. Officially, the Phillies haven't named a Game 4 starter. Unofficially, it'll be Joe Blanton. Charlie Manuel, continuing his policy of not looking beyond today's game, wouldn't say that Blanton will start Game 4. But I talked to Blanton on the field, and he seems pretty certain it'll be him. Of course, he'd prefer that the Phillies win and wrap up the series. Blanton hasn't pitched since Sept. 26 against the Nationals. In between, he has thrown three bullpen sessions, including yesterday and the day before.

2. Jimmy Rollins on Blanton: He's a competitor. That's something right before we got him, we got to see him in Oakland. He pretty much just blanked us. When he first came over, I think he was trying to prove that he could play here, the type of player that he was. He didn't really get off to a great start, but lately he's kind of settled in. Brett Myers, of all people, have kind of taken him under his wing. I know they have a good relationship. He's been throwing the ball well. He's been throwing that phantom ball, like he throws a fastball at 88, 89 miles per hour, and you find yourself swinging over or swinging through it. Then he has a good changeup and a good slider. He's been throwing that well. His last outing he was throwing it at the hitter's front hip, coming right back over the plate, and they throw their hands up and it's a strike. That's what he does, he pounds the zone, he tries to work ahead, gets ahead often and try to put a hitter on the defensive.

Asked how, exactly, Myers has taken Blanton "under his wing," he said, "I don't know, but he's done it. He sits right in front of him on the airplane. They're always talking. Sometimes Blanton looks over at us like, does this guy ever stop? But he doesn't move, so he must like it."

3. Manuel on Ryan Howard's stroke: I think, basically, CC [Sabathia] was tough on him the other night, without a doubt. But also the type of left-handers they've got coming in and out of the bullpen, they've got kind of side-armed left-handers. They can be tough. Basically what Ryan has to do -- if you've noticed lately, Ryan has been hitting real good, he's been picking his front foot up and setting it down, and that's what's kind of been getting him ready to hit. I noticed the other night that his stride got a little bit bigger. But when he's hitting real good, his stride definitely gives more power to his swing.
But I think he needs to stay on the ball and start hitting it more in the middle and left field."

I asked Manuel if it's more difficult for Howard to maintain his swing, considering the Brewers aren't giving him anything to hit (he has taken only nine swings in eight at-bats in the series): "That becomes very important because that goes to show you that they're trying to get him to chase balls out of the zone, and he's got to be very patient, and like I said, he's got to be patient and getting balls to hit and stay in the middle of the field or hit the ball to left field. Then when he does that, that's what brings him right back around."

4. Manuel's explanation of why he's starting Pedro Feliz (3-for-12, two homers, five RBIs against Brewers starter Dave Bush) at third base instead of Greg Dobbs (6-for-13, two homers, five RBIs against Bush): "Milwaukee has got a lot of right-handed hitters. I wanted to keep Feliz on them in the game. I think Dobber, if I'm not mistaken, career-wise Dobber is like 6-for-11 with two homers, five RBIs; Feliz is 3-for-15 with two homers. But Feliz hasn't played against him. Dobber has played the last two years against Bush.
But today I felt like with the right-handed hitters, I wanted Feliz in the game. But Dobbs will be available to hit."

5. Another difference between Milwaukee and Philly: CC Sabathia just received a warm ovation from the crowd. Do you think there's any chance, if Sabathia pitched as poorly for the Phillies as he did for the Brewers the other night that fans back home would cheer him when he returned home? I don't.

More in a bit.