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Werth, Dobbs conspire to give Burrell a seat

THE FIRST person to swing a bat during the extra hitting session before last night's game: Pat Burrell. The third-to-last person to swing a bat during last night's game: bench player Pat Burrell.

Arizona's Mark Reynolds slides around Carlos Ruiz to score on sacrifice fly in fourth inning.
Arizona's Mark Reynolds slides around Carlos Ruiz to score on sacrifice fly in fourth inning.Read more

THE FIRST person to swing a bat during the extra hitting session before last night's game: Pat Burrell.

The third-to-last person to swing a bat during last night's game: bench player Pat Burrell.

What happened in between explained why Burrell might not start much in the next few games.

Jayson Werth, starting for Burrell in leftfield, singled twice.

Greg Dobbs, who might start there tonight, ripped a three-run, pinch-hit homer to make a 5-1 deficit a 5-4 game in the ninth inning.

Extra hitting generally helps bench players keep sharp. Considering the recent production of Werth and Dobbs, Burrell might find himself hitting early often.

Before a pinch-hit single in the ninth inning, Burrell was on an 0-for-17 slide and went hitless in 15 at-bats on the six-game road trip. With six homers and 22 RBI, he was hitting .225 for the season thanks to an 11-for-81 (.136) stretch since April 25.

Werth, a splendid leftfielder, was 4-for-13 with three homers and five RBI on the road trip. He started last night against left-hander Doug Davis. Lefty Randy Johnson starts tomorrow; Burrell is 3-for-17 with 11 strikeouts against Johnson.

Dobbs, a corner infielder and corner outfielder, is hitting .360 with three homers, 10 RBI and 11 runs scored in his 13 starts in May. Dobbs could start in leftfield tonight against righthanded rookie Micah Owings.

"When you're hot, you're hot," manager Charlie Manuel said.

Burrell is not.

Asked directly if Burrell's starting job could be in jeopardy, Manuel declined to come out and say it, but he implied plenty.

"When you get a chance to play and you produce - that's what competition is. You play good enough, you get a chance to play again," Manuel said. "Right now, Pat is scuffling a little bit."

Werth and Dobbs have earned the right to compete.

"What [Dobbs] has done speaks for itself," Manuel said. "I don't think a guy has ever sat on the bench because he produced."

So, no, Burrell isn't out of a job for good. He's just out of a job until the other guys stop producing.

Not that Burrell hasn't had stretches of production himself.

He went 9-for-30 with five homers and 11 RBI in the recent 10-game homestand, a spurt that occurred after Burrell was told Manuel had told the Daily News that he needed more production from Burrell and Wes Helms.

Then, said hitting coach Milt Thompson, Burrell was consistently driving the ball to rightfield.

"As a righthanded hitter, when you hit line drives over the second baseman's head during batting practice, that's where you want to be," Thompson said. "I had him there pretty good during the homestand. When you try to hit home runs, it's hard to do."

Uh . . . thanks?

Brett Myers was flattered that a person as pedigreed as John Smoltz took the time to consider his plight, but Myers insisted his handling by the Phillies this season has nothing to do with him being on the disabled list.

Brett Myers was flattered that a person as pedigreed as John Smoltz took the time to consider his plight, but Myers insisted his handling by the Phillies this season has nothing to do with him being on the disabled list.

Myers began the season as the Phillies' No. 1 starter but was sent to the bullpen April 18 after three starts to help bolster that foundering unit. He assumed the closer's role May 3 after Tom Gordon hit the DL. Last Wednesday, in his 10th appearance as closer and his 18th appearance from the 'pen, he strained his teres major, a shoulder muscle. Smoltz asserted to several reporters Saturday that the Phillies abruptly moving Myers to the bullpen without what he considered an appropriate preparation period, then using him 18 times, did Myers a disservice.

The Phillies chafed at Smoltz' comments, and perhaps rightfully so. In 2001, coming off Tommy John surgery, Smoltz went from a starter to a short stint on the DL to a closer - and a hard-worked, 34-year-old closer at that.

Regardless, Myers was flattered that Smoltz cared.

"I appreciate it," Myers said, though he insisted his use "was not why I got hurt."

Myers contended that since the injury was a muscle strain and not a corruption of the inner structure of the shoulder - the labrum or the rotator cuff - it should not be considered a wear-and-tear injury.

"It was a freak thing," Myers said.

Phillers

Closer Tom Gordon, on the DL since May 2 with right rotator-cuff inflammation, spent the past 2 1/2 weeks overcoming the effects of an upper-respiratory illness, which appears to have caused him noticeable weight loss. He was examined by team doctor Michael Ciccotti yesterday and will begin a light tossing program . . . Infielder Abraham Nunez was cleared to start last night, which he did at third base. Nunez suffered a concussion Thursday in Florida when, while in the batter's box, he was hit in the right temple by catcher Miguel Olivo's follow-through on a throw to second base. Nunez failed a concussion test Friday but passed Saturday, though he felt nauseated through Sunday . . . Of last night's 41,985 at Citizens Bank Park, more than 11,600 bought tickets yesterday, 8,000 of them walkups. *

Closer Tom Gordon, on the DL since May 2 with right rotator-cuff inflammation, spent the past 2 1/2 weeks overcoming the effects of an upper-respiratory illness, which appears to have caused him noticeable weight loss. He was examined by team doctor Michael Ciccotti yesterday and will begin a light tossing program . . . Infielder Abraham Nunez was cleared to start last night, which he did at third base. Nunez suffered a concussion Thursday in Florida when, while in the batter's box, he was hit in the right temple by catcher Miguel Olivo's follow-through on a throw to second base. Nunez failed a concussion test Friday but passed Saturday, though he felt nauseated through Sunday . . . Of last night's 41,985 at Citizens Bank Park, more than 11,600 bought tickets yesterday, 8,000 of them walkups. *