Here’s the lineup today, with their numbers against Jonathan Sanchez in parentheses.
1. Shane Victorino (6-15, 2B, BB, 2K)
2. Chase Utley (3-11, 2B, HR, 5BB, 3K)
3. Placido Polanco (3-9, BB, K)
4. Ryan Howard (3-14, 2 2B, 3B, BB, 7K)
5. Jayson Werth (0-12, 2BB, 6K)
6. Jimmy Rollins (1-16, 2B, 4K)
7. Raul Ibanez (0-6, 3BB, K)
8. Carlos Ruiz (1-9, 3BB, 4K)
Though the hitters have drawn significant walk numbers off him, the 4-8 guys have just five hits in 67 at-bats. Make him throw a ton of pitches and lay off the lower sliders and he’s vulnerable.
1. Andres Torres
2. Freddy Sanchez
3. Aubrey Huff
4. Buster Posey
5. Pat Burrell
6. Cody Ross
7. Mike Fontenot (5-21, 2B, 6K)
8. Edgar Renteria (9-32, 2 2B, 2HR, 3BB, 5K)
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named gets bumped up two spots in the lineup and I expect 10 to 15 home runs for him today. Juan Uribe was injured sliding into second last night and will be replaced by Edgar Renteria. While this eliminates a bench player for Bruce Bochy to go to, Edgar’s got pretty good numbers against Roy Oswalt and always seems to come up big against the Phils.
I hate the “must-win game” phrase, so let’s go out there and kick some ass.