Phillies Notebook: Manuel shifts gears in Phillies batting order

In his last 10 postseason at-bats against a lefthanded reliever, Ryan Howard is 0-for-10 with eight strikeouts. Chase Utley, his longtime partner in the middle of the Phillies order, has one hit and three strikeouts in his last 11 postseason at-bats against a lefty reliever.

So last night, Charlie Manuel made a logical move, separating his two lefthanded sluggers with a subtle change to his lineup. Instead of hitting Utley third and Howard fourth, Manuel slid Utley up to No. 2 and Placido Polanco back to No. 3. The move, which came with tough lefty Jonathan Sanchez on the mound and lefty specialist Javier Lopez lurking in the bullpen, was made to prevent the type of situations that have plagued the Phillies over the past few postseasons, when opposing managers were free to call on their lefty relief specialists to face Utley and Howard without having to worry about them facing a righthanded hitter.

Such was the case in the eighth inning of Game 1, when Lopez induced a groundout from Utley and then struck out Howard before giving way to righthanded closer Brian Wilson.

"Same reason I always do it," Manuel said before the start of Game 2. "I want to kind of just have a righthanded hitter in between them."

Although Manuel downplayed the move, he has resisted making it before. During last year's World Series, he hit Howard and Utley back-to-back in all six games despite the presence of lefty specialist Damaso Marte in the Yankees bullpen. In the Phillies' 8-5 loss to veteran lefty Andy Pettitte in Game 3, the two sluggers combined to go 0-for-8 with five strikeouts. When they faced Pettitte in Game 6, Manuel kept Utley and Howard together in the order. Howard hit a two-run home run against Pettitte in the sixth inning, and he and Utley finished the night 1-for-7 with three strikeouts.

Since the start of the 2009 postseason, Utley and Howard have combined to go 2-for-29 with 14 strikeouts and two extra-base hits against lefty relievers.

Over the last four postseasons, they are 8-for-60 with three home runs, 29 strikeouts, 10 walks and one hit by pitch.

Last night, though, was the first time in the Phillies' last 33 postseason games that Howard and Utley did not hit back-to-back in the order.

Charlie Manuel said he looked at Ben Francisco's career numbers against Jonathan Sanchez before deciding to leave Raul Ibanez in the lineup against the Giants' tough lefty starter.

Francisco entered the night 0-for-8 with a walk and two strikeouts in his career against Sanchez. Ibanez was 0-for-6 with three walks against the 27-year-old southpaw.

"I looked at the numbers; he's 0-for-8," Manuel said. "But at the same time, I also look at it as Raul had a good second half, good hits off lefties, and he's come through and he's good in the clutch for us. I mean, the hits that he's got have been big ones."

The loss to the Giants in Game 1 apparently did not prompt Charlie Manuel to reconsider his pitching plans. Prior to yesterday's game, he said he still anticipated veteran righthander Joe Blanton starting Game 4 in San Francisco. The only other option would be starting Roy Halladay on short rest.

"That's still our plan," Manuel said. "But we'll take it day to day and see what happens. I mean, our plans are Blanton."

Charlie Manuel reiterated yesterday that veteran lefty Jamie Moyer is unlikely to play this postseason, despite Moyer's belief that he is finally healthy. Moyer, a free-agent-to-be who last pitched competitively on July 20, has spent the last 3 months recovering from a strained flexor pronator tendon and sprained ulnar collateral ligament. Said Manuel: "He hasn't pitched in a game. I find that a little tough" . . . Ryan Howard continues to be one of the more visible Phillies. During the season, he taped a guest spot on the HBO series "Entourage." Last week, he read David Letterman's Top 10 list. Yesterday, he was on the sideline during the first half of the Eagles' victory over the Falcons, where he appeared live with sideline reporter Tony Siragusa during a segment . . . The Phillies have never won a postseason series after losing the first game. They are 0-6 in their history in those series, and won Game 2 in just one of them.