Asche looking to get untracked

As the statistics indicate, it's been an up and down season for Phillies third baseman Cody Asche. He is hitting .247 with seven home runs, 37 RBI and a .675 OPS in 316 plate appearances.

In today's game against the New York Mets, Asche is batting eighth and looking to coming out of a mini slump. In the past five games he is 2-for-17 (.118) with two RBI.

With Maikel Franco playing well at Lehigh Valley, it will be interesting to see if the Phillies will bring him up in September and cut into Asche's playing time.

In his last 33 games, Franco is batting .338 with five home runs, 28 RBI and a .924 OPS. So these are important games for Asche, who looks to get on track.

With the Phillies heading to the West Coast for two games against the Los Angeles Trouts and three against the San Francisco Giants, Chase Utley gets the day off. Andres Blanco is at second base. Darin Ruf gets a start in left field.