Is the Phillies' righthanded bat already here?

NEW YORK - The window is small, and there is a chance that no matter what John Mayberry Jr. does in the next two weeks won't matter if the right name at the right price pops up on the Phillies' radar screen before the July 31 trade deadline.

All Mayberry has right now is a chance, an opportunity to prove to manager Charlie Manuel and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. that he is the righthanded bat they've been looking for.

Before the Phillies opened the second half of the season Friday night with a 7-2 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field, Manuel was asked what he needed to see from Mayberry if the outfielder wants to be that righthanded hitter.

"Hits," Manuel said. "Hits. That's what I'm looking for."

On cue, Mayberry delivered the two biggest hits of the evening, a two-run single in the top of the second inning and a three-run double that turned the game into a rout in the eighth.

"I'm aware [they're looking for a righthanded bat]," Mayberry said. "It's usually part of my interviews, but I don't really think about it too much. I'm just trying to perform as well as possible and leaving it to the higher-ups to make those kinds of decisions."

Manuel and the Phillies are aware of Mayberry's immense ability.

"John has got a lot of talent," the manager said before the game. "If you grade players out across the board, he can throw, he can hit, he can run, he's got power, and he can play all three outfield positions. He plays a pretty good center field and he can steal a base. The thing he needs to improve on is hitting righthanded pitching. I think he can hold his own against lefties."

Mayberry has a .261 career average, and six of his 11 home runs have come against lefties, but at the moment he is hitting all pitching - and it may have something to do with an adjustment he made at the urging of Manuel.

"Basically, I've just been trying to get into a more athletic position, more open and more on the balls of my feet and then just be aggressive," Mayberry said. "Charlie has kind of always told me that, and it was time to make that adjustment."

After struggling with that adjustment when he was optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley, the former first-round pick of the Texas Rangers impressed the Phillies when he went on a hot streak. And when the team wanted an extra bat at the beginning of the month, Mayberry was back in the big leagues with another small window to prove his worth.

If nothing else, it's obvious that Mayberry has moved ahead of Ben Francisco on Manuel's outfield depth chart, and that could keep him in the big leagues for the remainder of this season regardless of what the Phillies do at the trade deadline.

In five starts since being recalled earlier this month, Mayberry is hitting .363 (8 for 22) with two home runs and 12 RBIs. Eleven of the 12 RBIs have come against righthanded pitching. The five RBIs Friday night were a career high.

"You're just relaxed up there and confident," Mayberry said. "I feel like when a hitter is locked in and swinging the bat well, it feels like the game is in slow motion, and it's the exact opposite when you're struggling."

Mayberry's first hit Friday was against righthanded knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, and it was an impressive, grind-it-out at-bat. Down by 1-2 in the count, Mayberry fouled off a couple of pitches before hitting a hard ground ball to the right side of the infield that got past second baseman Jason Turner for a two-run single that put the Phillies up, 2-0.

Mayberry may have been a little lucky, because Turner was playing near the bag at second base on a ball that might have been a double play had the second baseman handled it.

Sometimes a little luck can lead to a lot of success.

Mayberry was lucky again on his second big hit of the evening, but only because he never should have made it to home plate. Turner butchered what should have been an inning-ending double-play grounder off Raul Ibanez's bat, and shortstop Ruben Tejada also kicked a Domonic Brown ground ball that should have been the final out of the inning.

Instead, Mayberry got to come to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded.

Good hitters and good teams make bad fielders and bad teams pay.

When Mets reliever Ryota Igarashi, another righthander, fell behind, 2-0, Mayberry ripped a 93-m.p.h. fastball into the left-field corner for a three-run double that gave the Phillies a 7-1 lead.

"It was great to be able to come up with runners on a couple of times and even better to come up with a couple of hits," Mayberry said. "I definitely feel like I have a great opportunity in front of me right now. I'm trying to contribute in each situation I'm put in, and hopefully I'll be able to stick around."