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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Victorino in line-up

Hard to believe that within the next 30 hours, the Phillies' season will be over, and they will either maintain their title as champions, or find themselves one or two wins short. The highlight of this weekend will either be a parade down Broad Street, or the Eagles' Sunday night tilt against the Cowboys. The Phillies will either enter the offseason again trying to improve the best team in the major leagues, or they will look to fix the three glaring personnel deficiencies that helped cost them the title -- an over-reliance on their left-handed sluggers, the lack of a powerful right-handed bat off the bench, and an inconsistent bullpen.

Four hours before the start of Game 6, manager Charlie Manuel said he expected center fielder Shane Victorino to be in the line-up. Victorino suffered a badly swollen, albeit unbroken, finger when he was hit on the right hand with an A.J. Burnett in the third inning of Game 5. Manuel labeled the finger "fine," although he said he would watch Victorino's swings and throws during batting practice to make sure the injured digit is not hampering him.

Assuming Victorino plays, Ben Francisco will start in left field, with Raul Ibanez serving as the designated hitter. Francisco hit seventh the last time he was in the line-up, but tonight he will hit eighth, with Pedro Feliz hitting seventh and Carlos Ruiz hitting ninth. The bottom of the Phillies' order could play a huge role in this game. Ibanez, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard combined to go 0-for-9 with six strikeouts off Andy Pettitte in Game 3. If Pettitte has similar success with his slider tonight, the five right-handed bats at Nos. 7 through 2 will need to help make up for the lack of production at the middle of the order.

Here are the line-ups:

Phillies

  1. Jimmy Rollins SS
  2. Shane Victorino CF
  3. Chase Utley 2B
  4. Ryan Howard 1B
  5. Jayson Werth RF
  6. Raul Ibanez DH
  7. Pedro Feliz 3B
  8. Ben Francisco LF
  9. Carlos Ruiz C

Yankees

  1. Derek Jeter SS
  2. Johnny Damon LF
  3. Mark Texeira 1B
  4. Alex Rodriguez 3B
  5. Hideki Matsui DH
  6. Jorge Posada C
  7. Robinson Cano 2B
  8. Nick Swisher RF
  9. Brett Gardner LF

 

Posted by David Murphy @ 5:03 PM  Permalink | 15 comments
15
Comments   
Posted 05:15 PM, 11/04/2009
Tired of Hamels
Little bit of a depressing blog Murph. THE PHILLIES WILL REPEAT! THIS 3 DAYS REST BULL... WILL HURT THE YANKS! LOOK FOR A LOT OF RUNS TONIGHT AND LOOK FOR THEM TO CRUSH CC TOMORROW! GOTTA HAVE PHAITH! GO PHILS!
Posted 05:26 PM, 11/04/2009
ahaldy
2 left fielders? I am assuming Gardner is playing CF. 2 left fielders would be nice though...for our lefties!
Posted 05:27 PM, 11/04/2009
JimG
Over reliance on left-handed hitting? Didn't Utley and Ibanez have higher batting averages this year against left-handed pitching? Hasn't Utley hit 4 of his 5 homers in the World Series off left-handers? Hasn't Ibanez hit monsterous homers off LH pitching in the playoffs (off Coke in Game 5 and off Sherrill in the NLCS)? Didn't the Phillies have a very good won-loss percentage against left-handed starters this year? Hasn't CC pitched against them 3 times in the playoffs the last 2 years and left without a win on his record in any of those 3 games? Howard is the only one of the 3 that struggles against lefties. People need to quit lumping Utley and Ibanez in there with Howard as far as struggles with lefties.
Posted 05:35 PM, 11/04/2009
PhightinPhil
Hey Tired, David Murphy doesn't wave pom poms, and that's what I like about him as a writer.
Posted 05:42 PM, 11/04/2009
PhightinPhil
JimG, I think David Murphy's point was that teams have a propensity to pitch left-handers against the Phillies because three of the Phightins top run producers hit from the left side ... Whether Ibanez and/or Utley hit lefties well is irrelevant because opponents would prefer throwing left-handers at them ... If nothing else, it minimizes Ryan Howard's effectiveness ... So, that alone magnifies the need for another legit bat from the right side beside Werth.
Posted 05:48 PM, 11/04/2009
soliteryman
keys to tonites game..phils jump on pettite early and often,patience at the plate,trust pedros stuff longer charlie,run,run,run..DONT GIVE ALEX ANYTHING TO SWING AT
Posted 06:08 PM, 11/04/2009
maximusud
In response to "the lack of a powerful right-handed bat off the bench," I ask what happened to John Mayberry? Wasn't he in this role at least part of this season? Has the front office completely given up on him? To be honest, I was questioning before the WS why he wasn't on the roster to DH...
Posted 06:10 PM, 11/04/2009
omh44
A nice site that has Phillies radio call highlights and interviews... Philliesradio.net
Posted 06:13 PM, 11/04/2009
eastender
I might be crazy but I always thought the Francisco "throw-in" was an awesome coup for Amaro...................Watch him become a Phillie legend tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 06:24 PM, 11/04/2009
atp2007
What happens if the Yankees finally wake up and pitch around Utley? The way he's been going will Howard handle the extra pressure? Maybe it was time to protect Utley by moving Ruiz (or the DH) behind him. (Phillies management prepared for the Series against an AL team by getting Pedro and Lee, but didn't bother to a serious DH evn when the bench was useless all year.)
Posted 06:26 PM, 11/04/2009
DennisAtwell
Well, they needed a right handed bat after last season and choose Raul, I love the guy but it's obvious that position wise they have no room for a right handed bat without a trade, and left field is the only position where a right handed hitter would be a change...
Posted 06:31 PM, 11/04/2009
scootch
"A powerful, right-handed bat off the bench"?? The Phils need any kind of player off the bench, since they don't have a single player pulling their weight.
Posted 06:35 PM, 11/04/2009
Doc1947
It all boils down to an the Phillies win two in a row, and can the Yamkees win one in a row.
Posted 06:45 PM, 11/04/2009
papreps
I like David Murphy's weather forecasts on Channel 6, too.
Posted 07:05 PM, 11/04/2009
youngmc100
Regarding the lead sentence, maybe if you replace the word "Phillies" with simply, "baseball," and take into account it's November the friggin fourth, it isn't that hard to believe, at all!
About David Murphy
David Murphy joined the Daily News as its Phillies beat writer in February of 2008. Born in Upper Merion and raised in the Poconos, he attended college at La Salle University before taking jobs with the Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun-News and the St. Petersburg ( Fla. ) Times.

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