Whats better? Burrell not in left or Howard not at first? The better question is probably Dobbs at first or Bruntlet/Jenkins. I think you have to go Dobbs at first against a righty, and Bruntlet in LF against a lefty, or Coste as Dh and Burrell in LF.

Rollins SS
Werth RF
Utley 1B
Howard DH
Burrell LF
VIctorino CF
Dobbs 2B
Feliz 3B
Ruiz C

That’s a theory of mine. Of course, Utley is more comfortable at 2B, but he did start at 1B a lot during interleague play. If you really want to get Stairs in the lineup (which is likely), you just put him at DH and leave the team as-is for the field.

I think we’re just better off leaving our lineup alone, letting Dobbs DH, and leaving Stairs on the bench for another late inning “we need a PH HR” at bat…

im sure charlie manuel will look for matchups unless it REALLY hurts us, as long as he doesnt do the Andy Reid take better players off field for matchups im happy

but that’s just my opinion.

against LHP: Coste at 1B, Howard at DH, everything else the same. Coste mauls LHP (.870 OPS in his career), there’s no way you can keep him out of the lineup—plus, if you put him at 1B, you can switch him to catcher without losing the DH.

Against RHP, if Manuel goes with Dobbs, Dobbs should be at 1B with Howard at DH. If it’s Stairs, everything else stays the same. I’m not sure who is the best bet….Dobbs is the better pinch hitting option (despite Stairs’ tremendous HR), but he also lets you improve your infield defense if you start him.

Also, this isn’t entirely related, but why is Taguchi on the roster instead of Golson? We all saw how ridiculously fast Golson is during the regular season, and, as my brother pointed out, he could be our Fernando Perez—who won Game 2 for the Rays as a PR on a ridiculously short sac fly. He can’t hit worth a lick, but Taguchi can’t do ANYTHING we ask him to do.

Coste needs to play, somehow, against the LHP. I’d put him at 1B, and Howard at DH, which allows Coste to move to catcher w/o losing the DH. If that’s not workable, then he needs to be DH, with or without Marson on the roster.

Against RHP, Dobbs or Stairs is fine by me. I think Dobbs is the better PH, but playing him lets you DH Howard. I think Manuel might do it based on match ups, as Dobbs and Stairs have different approaches that probably work well against different pitchers.

Also, this is a bit off-topic, but shouldn’t Golson replace Taguchi on the roster? My brother pointed this out to me—Taguchi does NOTHING well, he’s a complete waste. Golson can’t hit a lick, but he’s super-duper fast. He could be our Fernando Perez—who won game 2 of the ALCS for the Rays on an extremely short sacrifice fly. And he can’t possibly bunt any worse.

don’t know what happened…feel free to delete the first.

I can understand sample size re: his hitting. The issue is, with bunting and fielding, he is given limited opportunities, and he hasn’t shown the ability to convert them, especially in the field where he had a couple egregious misplays. Perhaps that’s a poor showing, but it shows how little marginal value he offers as well. Golson’s speed is much more tangible, and has greater value on a bench that has no few average runners, let alone above average.

The more I think about it, the more I hate what the DH or lack of DH has done to the difference in the leagues. It creates a significantly unfair balance for NL teams especially in short series. Not only do the Phillies not budget for a DH hitter in their lineup, they also must have players to complement the fact that they do not have a DH. This means having less specialized arms in the pen to eat innings if you need to pinch hit for your pitcher. It also means you need to have specialized players on your bench to help you double switch (which never happens in the AL). American League teams can fill their benches mainly with decent bats as these guys will likely not need to play the field unless they start there.

Just put the DH in the NL already.