After witnessing his team suffer its third blowout loss in its last four games and its 21st loss in its last 27 games Friday, Phillies manager Pete Mackanin is doing all he can Saturday.
And that is, completely changing up the lineup.
Mackanin has Cody Asche as his leadoff hitter, moving Odubel Herrera to the two-hole, bumped Maikel Franco down to sixth and inserted Ryan Howard into the cleanup spot for the Phillies' game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citizens Bank Park today at 3:05, the second contest of a four-game series.
It will be the first time Asche will lead off in his career. The leftfielder is hitting .250 with two home runs and four RBIs in 15 games this season since returning to the Phillies after completing his rehab assignment from a left oblique injury that kept him out the first two months of the season.
As for Franco, the third baseman has been struggling for two weeks and on Friday night, he struck out two more times and is swingly wildly at pitches. His average is down to .243 and he now has 49 strikeouts in 235 at-bats. Mackanin on Friday said he would likely drop Franco in the lineup to take some of the pressure off of him, and followed through with it today.
Here is the full lineup:
1. Cody Asche, LF
2. Odubel Herrera, CF
3. Andres Blanco, 2B
4. Ryan Howard, 1B
5. Jimmy Paredes, RF
6. Maikel Franco, 3B
7. Carlos Ruiz, C
8. Freddy Galvis, SS
9. Jared Eickhoff, P
Philadelphia Phillies
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For more on today's ballgame, check out Steven Tydings' game notes.
