Before I slice and dice a few of the regulars that have helped the Philadelphia Phillies to a MLB best 24-12 record out of the gate, I would like to say that in two weeks this article will be virtually meaningless. I say this because the Phillies lineup will look vastly different than the one Uncle Charlie has been forced to throw out there the last month. Chase Utley will be manning his usual 3rd spot in the order, and the not-so-slender Panamanian Carlos Ruiz will be back behind the plate and presumably batting 8th. Also, the phenom Domonic Brown will be brought up to take over for Ben Francisco, who has become this year’s version to Pedro Cerrano when facing a curveball. (Unfortunately, Jaboo has not made an appearance in South Philly just yet).
That being said, the 5 through 8 hitters in the Phillies lineup this year has been a disaster.
You’ve read the book “Who’s on First?”; this year’s Phillies are writing, “Why the fuck can’t our 5 hole hitter bat over .220?”
Ben Francisco, thrust into 5th hole after spending the last two years polishing Jayson Werth’s bat (both of them) in the dugout, started off the campaign unbelievably hot. Then we realized the maybe Houston and Mets pitching is not an accurate snapshot of the National League. Since the first week of the season Ben’s stat line is such:
R HR RBI SB BB TB AVG OPS
2 | 11 | 1 | 13 | 25 | .195 | .635 |
The second of the Phillies 5-6 Blackhole Bash Brothers is Rauuuuuuuuuuul Ibanez. Now it’s a lot harder to hate on Raul, because he’s such a stand up guy and a workout warrior. His struggles are truly age related (I’m looking at you too, Derek Jeter). Raul has currently been on a “hot” steak the past week, raising his BA to a not-so-laughable .232 since bottoming out at .154 which was at the point he was in a very laughable (and cry-able) 0-34 slump. To put into context a 0-34… Check that it’s nearly impossible to go for 0-34. We’ll leave it at that.
Sadly this is not that least productive spots in the lineup. The 2B and C positions that currently fill the 7-8 spots in the lineup have been all-time embarrassing. Thanks to the Phillies Zone blog for putting this in context: “Entering Wednesday's game, Phillies pitchers had a better OPS (.554) than hitters from the eight spot (.504). Phillies second basemen (.557) and catchers (.574) each have the worst OPS in the league at their respective positions.”
That’s right. Statistically speaking Cole Hamels should be batting 7th against the Braves on Friday night. I could even argue that batting Cole 5th really wouldn’t change much.
Like I said, in two weeks this should all be long gone and a fresh new lineup will be filled out by Uncle Charlie. However, if Utley’s knee falls back apart and D. Brown plays like his hitless spring training self, then maybe I’ll be sounding the alarms at a 50-30 record.
And that’s the view atop the National League East.
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