Phillies suddenly feeling good
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Phillies suddenly feeling good
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Shane Victorino is all heart, so you tend to know exactly how he is feeling, regardless of the actual words that are coming out of his mouth. When he is speaking in run-on sentences and barely pausing for a breath and taking multiple detours in a single answer, he is usually feeling really good, and that is how the Phillies center fielder was speaking last night. Yesterday at Busch Stadium III, the vibe emanating from this Phillies team was as upbeat as I can remember it being this season.
The trick, of course, is making it last, which is why they play the games, but you have to be encouraged by how the Phillies have responded since they dropped the first two games of their series against the Nationals earlier this week.
Offensively, it all starts with Carlos Ruiz, and the early results of his move to the clean-up spot are intriguing. Forget about his individual performance for a minute and consider that Victorino is 4-for-8 with a walk, two doubles, a home run, three runs, and five RBI over the last two nights since moving into the five-hole.
Hunter Pence does not have a hit in his two games back in the three-hole, but he has drawn three walks, and has scored three runs. And all of that makes you think that maybe Ruiz really is a clean-up hitter, and that the best lineup Manuel can field at this point in time has his one-time No. 8 hitter as the centerpiece. It makes some sense. For whatever reason, the last two players to make extended attempts at filling in for Ryan Howard at cleanup have failed. Jayson Werth did not respond well in a brief tryout, nor did Hunter Pence in a longer one. Manuel said after last night's game that he does not understand, that a hitter should be overjoyed to be hitting fourth, but he also admitted that many of todays hitters are creatures of habit who can allow a simple change in their batting order position to throw their equilibrium out of whack. Ruiz, on the other hand, does not get thrown out of whack easily, except by injury, which is the one glaring concern about his taking on such an important role in the offense. Ruiz has shown in his postseason performances that pressure does not really affect him, at least not from a negative standpoint. So maybe it does make sense to put him at No. 4 and let Pence and Victorino hit in spots where they are more comfortable. Time will tell if the last two nights have been the start of something good.
"I used to hit him in the second cleanup spot," Manuel joked, referring to the eight-hole. "Now I moved him up to first. That's what I tell him."
Since the move, Ruiz is 6-for-9 with a double and a strikeout. He seems to hit wherever he hits. Batting seventh this season, a .347/.380/.597 line, batting sixth, .333/.429/.667, batting fifth, .367/.444/.533. You used to think part of Ruiz's production could be attributed to the fact that the pitcher hit behind him. No longer.
"This is the best I've seen him swing," Manuel said.
The Phillies have three more games against the Cardinals, more than enough time to erase the good feeling that pulsed through the clubhouse last night. On the other hand, imagine what three wins would do for the confidence of guys like Victorino.
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Chooch!— P Even- Moving Chooch, the Phils best hitter, to clean-up was obviously a good move. Now Chuck please move Jimmy down to 6 or 7 in the order where he should have been for the past two yeras.— bunningandshort
- But please explain who hits leadoff. It's easy to punish Rollins, but who replaces him? Pierre shouldn't even be on the team!— Jeffy3
- You need someone disaplined who will work the count.— angrywhtguy
- Jeffy,in case you haven't noticed, Pierre is hitting well over .300. Why not let him try leadoff?— nmlawyer
- Pierre shouldn't be on the team??? Jeffy3...are you out of i? Rollins should hit eighth.— ginzo
- I agree Rollins is an 8-hole hitter right now but don't know who I would lead off with. There isn't a DH in the national league. You lead off with Pierre everyday you have to put him in left field every day! — Jeffy3
- When Phillies score a lot of runs, they usually get shut out in the next 2 games.
I'm already putting an "L" in for Lee tonight because he'll give up 2 runs.— fmMD - We already know how Lee pitches against the Cardinals with a lead....instead of a 4 run lead, this time he may need like 8 or 9 runs......I don't have much faith in Lee or Halladay right now to turn it around....the hitters have actually been getting a lot of hits, they don't always get the key hits but they are getting on base....in Halladays last start the Phillies had 9 hits.......Blanton was atrocious last night. He was absolutely shelled.....our starting pitching except for Hamels is as big a problem as us missing Howard or Utley.....who would have ever thought that could happen— klew
- Victorino should work on hitting the cut off man— Joe Lis lives
- After the last 0-1 loss to the Cards, it was good to see some runs, even if the win was scary. Lots of positives in the games, Blanton and Qualls were the sore spots. Chooch is playing like a world beater and Freddy continues to prove he's a major league. Let's cut Jimmie some slack. The Phils were 4 and 11 the first fifteen games with Jimmie down in the lineup. When he's back at leadoff, they're 13 and 10.— johnnyMo
- I enjoy seeing people still talking about moving Rollins out of the leadoff spot. Those were good times, way back when that would have been a relevant topic.— hayes9
- I really love Chooch in clean up and to be honest, I'd love to see Galvis hitting 1st. Although...I can't recall is he a speedy kid or not so speedy? Rollins is not a lead-off hitter any more and I really don't care about his psyche. He should be hitting in the 7 hole.— bingbangbong
- bing,
Good points. Galvis does not run well.— johnny eagle - Think where we'd be right now if Ruiz wasn't this hot. Bingbang: Galvis stole 23 bases last year at LV - but he was caught 13 times. I would not hit him first. He's hitting well enough right now but he's still a rookie. Leading off's a different beast and batting second can require a lot of situational hitting, if your leadoff guy gets on!— eman
