Today's Lineup: Ryan Howard playing vs. starter he's historically had success against

Share

The Ryan Howard situation has been a tricky one for Phillies manager Pete Mackanin. And that was true even before Howard's bat caught fire in August, which has made the situation that much trickier for Mackanin, who has carefully had to juggle starts at first for both Howard and rookie Tommy Joseph.

But Sunday's decision was as close to a no-brainer as can be.

Howard gets the starting nod in the cleanup spot for Sunday's series finale against the Cardinals (see game notes) and starter Mike Leake, whom Howard has had tremendous success against over the last several seasons.

Howard is 8 for 23 lifetime vs Leake with three homers and eight RBIs. The Big Piece took Leake deep earlier this season during a 5-4 Phillies win in St. Louis on May 4.

Since the All-Star break, Howard is batting .345 with seven dingers and 16 RBIs. For the season, he's got 19 home runs and 43 RBIs.

As for other notes from Sunday's Phillies lineup, Carlos Ruiz is back catching and batting fifth and Odubel Herrera will bat sixth.

Both teams' lineups for Sunday's series finale can be found below:

Phillies
1. Cesar Hernandez 2B
2. Aaron Altherr LF
3. Maikel Franco 3B
4. Ryan Howard 1B
5. Carlos Ruiz C
6. Odubel Herrera CF
7. Freddy Galvis 2B
8. Peter Bourjos RF
9. Vince Velasquez SP

Cardinals
1. Greg Garcia SS
2. Stephen Piscotty RF
3. Matt Carpenter 1B
4. Brandon Moss LF
5. Yadier Molina C
6. Jhonny Peralta 3B
7. Jedd Gyorko 2B
8. Randal Grichuk CF
9. Mike Leake SP

Contact Us