Finally, order is restored

The Phillies' blueprint lineup finally held a reunion at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday night.

All the guys were back together and batting in the order manager Charlie Manuel and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. intended when the season opened 20 weeks ago.

Jimmy Rollins was at the top, Placido Polanco batted second, and Chase Utley hit third during the Phillies' game against the Houston Astros. Ryan Howard was the cleanup man, followed by Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino, and Carlos Ruiz.

It was the first time they had played together since May 21, when Rollins went to the disabled list a second time.

They just could not get through the entire game intact, although injuries were not the problem this time. By the end of the Phillies' strange 4-2, 16-inning loss, Roy Oswalt was playing left field, Ibanez was at first base, and Brian Schneider was catching.

Thank Scott Barry, a triple-A fill-in umpire, for that arrangement. Barry showed why he belongs back in the minor leagues in the 14th inning of this 5-hour, 20-minute marathon. With runners at first and second and two outs, Howard thought he had checked his swing on a two-strike pitch from righthander Mark Melancon.

Asked for an appeal of the call from home-plate umpire Greg Gibson, Barry ruled that Howard had swung, and the Phillies first baseman threw his bat in disagreement. Barry immediately ejected Howard, who reacted by going after the third-base umpire.

Whether it was a bad call is irrelevant. What mattered is that Barry's decision to eject Howard played a major role in the outcome of the game, and that's inexcusable for any big-league umpire.

None of the 45,494 who showed up at the ballpark Tuesday night came to see Scott Barry umpire. Sometimes an ump has to take the abuse and turn away. In this case, Howard was at least 100 feet away when Barry ejected him, so it should have been easy for the umpire to turn his head and ignore Howard's tirade.

Houston's Chris Johnson had the same reaction on a call the night before and was not ejected.

"I've never seen him upset like that," Manuel said when asked about Howard. "I've seen him mad, but not like that."

For the record, it is only the second time in his career that Howard has been ejected. Also for the record, Barry ejected Washington's Ryan Zimmerman for the first time in his career in a tie game last week against Chicago.

The ejection played a role in the outcome in two ways. When the Astros scored the second of their two runs in the top of the 16th, it was because Ibanez had to play first base and he could not handle a relay throw from Utley that would have been an inning-ending double play.

In the bottom of the 16th, the Astros got to pitch to Oswalt with the game on the line because he occupied Howard's cleanup spot.

Whoever is in charge of major-league umpires should tell Barry that he cannot have that kind of impact on a game.

"I don't want to get caught up in criticizing them," Manuel said. "I don't think that's any good. They call them as they see them, and we're going to leave it at that."

The entire episode could have been avoided if the Phillies had managed more than 10 hits and two runs.

Six of the starting eight have spent time on the disabled list. The only exceptions have been Ibanez and Werth, who combined to account for the Phillies' only run Tuesday while Cole Hamels was still in the game.

Now, with the first-place Atlanta Braves still well within reach and the lineup intact, the Phils are expected to take off.

It might not happen.

Utley has batted only .250 in seven games since returning from the disabled list.

After going 0 for 7 with five strikeouts in Tuesday's disaster, Howard is hitting .105 since returning from the DL.

If this is truly to be a magical season because of what was perceived as a marvelous lineup, Utley and Howard need to shake off their ailments and start producing.