Charlie Manuel, who has used fewer lineups than any National League manager this season, significantly shuffled his lineup for last night's game against the Oakland Athletics at McAfee Coliseum.

Here's how it looked:

1. Jayson Werth, right field; 2. Chase Utley, second base; 3. Jimmy Rollins, shortstop; 4. Pat Burrell, left field; 5. Ryan Howard, designated hitter; 6. Pedro Feliz, third base; 7. Shane Victorino, center field; 8. Chris Coste, catcher; 9. Eric Bruntlett, first base.

Make no mistake. If the Phillies had been hitting better lately, he wouldn't have put this lineup on the field to face A's lefthander Greg Smith.

But they're not. They entered last night hitting .170 and had scored just 11 runs in their last six games. So he did.

He separated Utley and Howard for the first time this season. He also hit Rollins third and Victorino seventh to balance the lineup as much as possible.

"More than likely if we were winning I would go with what's winning for us," Manuel said.

His players understood the move.

"We haven't been scoring," Werth said. "I think Fred Lynn said if you're staying in the same spot in the box and you keep hitting balls at people, move around in the box so you're not hitting it at them.

"So if you're not scoring runs, move some people around."

Coste wondered what might happen if the new look works.

"The scary thing is if we score 15 runs tonight, what's tomorrow's lineup going to be?" he said.

Don't expect Rollins to hit third for long. Manuel still wants him leading off. Don't expect Utley and Howard to be separated for long, either. Manuel likes them hitting back-to-back.

"That's what produced for us this year, last year, and two years ago," Manuel said. "That's the clout of our offense. Let's face it."

Manuel isn't to the point yet where he would pull names out of a hat to make up his lineup.

"I won't say I won't," he said.

They keep losing and maybe he will.

Flash back? Manuel said righthander Tom Gordon was available and could have pitched Tuesday against the A's. He hasn't pitched since June 15 against the St. Louis Cardinals because of soreness in his right shoulder.

Tuesday night flashback. Jamie Moyer took a one-hit shutout into the seventh inning Tuesday, but allowed a three-run home run to Emil Brown in a 5-2 loss to the A's. Manuel never considered pulling Moyer with two on and one out in the seventh because he had cruised to that point. He had.

But once again the Phillies couldn't put any offense together.

Moyer deserved better.

"You go through phases during the season," Moyer said. "A couple weeks ago, the runs we were scoring were coming like a dam broke. Now we're not. It's part of the game. Deal with it, you know? But we all have to do our jobs. That's the important thing. We have to pitch. We have to hit. We have to play defense."

at 215-854-4874 or tzolecki@phillynews.com. Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/phillieszone.