Charlie Manuel has handed in his Game 2 line-up and there are a couple things of note.\u00a0 Here’s the line-up:<\/p>\n
1. Victorino<\/p>\n
2. Polanco<\/p>\n
3. Utley<\/p>\n
4. Howard<\/p>\n
5. Werth<\/p>\n
6. Rollins<\/p>\n
7. Ibanez<\/p>\n
8. Ruiz<\/p>\n
9. Oswalt<\/p>\n
-Polanco’s back is obviously feeling better, as he’s back in his customary 2-spot.\u00a0 Good news.<\/p>\n
-I love leaving Victorino in the lead-off spot.\u00a0 He’s now the Phillies all-time leader in post-season hits (35) and J-Roll isn’t running at 100%.<\/p>\n
-Which brings me to the thing I don’t understand about this line-up: why is Rollins hitting ahead of Ibanez?\u00a0 Ibanez has been one the Phils’ hottest hitters, and Rollins has barely played over the last month.\u00a0 When Rollins has played this year, he’s been mostly ineffective.\u00a0 The Inquirer’s Matt Gelb pointed out that Rollins is 4 for 12 with a homer off Arroyo in his career, but is that really enough to bump him ahead of Ibanez?\u00a0 The only theory I can think of is that Charlie wants to get Ibanez a bit further away from the other two lefties, but isn’t the presence of Jayson Werth between Howard and Ibanez enough to take care\u00a0 of that?\u00a0 I don’t really get it.\u00a0 I trust in Charlie, and this isn’t a huge deal or anything, but it seems like a mistake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Charlie Manuel has handed in his Game 2 line-up and there are a couple things of note.\u00a0 Here’s the line-up: 1. Victorino 2. Polanco 3. Utley 4. Howard 5. Werth 6. Rollins 7. Ibanez 8. Ruiz 9. Oswalt -Polanco’s back … Continue reading