Shane Victorino saw his opening and took advantage of it when Bobby Abreu was traded.
Heck, Wilson Valdez was the everyday second baseman going into this season. Pete Orr has started 10 of the last 16 games.
The Phillies offense continued its uphill climb yesterday, managing just four hits in a 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. In 39 games this season they have scored three or fewer 20 times, nearly 50 percent.
"We're gonna find some hitting. We'll get somebody," Charlie Manuel promised afterward. "We'll find people. We'll gawdamn look until we find somebody. Seriously. That's how I look at it. We'll keep experimenting until we get people."
From the outside, the quick hook is always going to be the No. 1 option. Just look at the NFL, where the second-string quarterback is usually the most popular player in town and the fans tend to believe the head coach is an idiot after every loss and should be fired if his team happens to drop a couple in a row.
Because baseball plays so many games, patience is considered a virtue. That's why when Manuel announced at the end of the exhibition season that Ben Francisco would be the everyday rightfielder, he also vowed plenty of time to show what he had. "He's going to get his chance to play a lot. He's going to get what I call a bona-fide chance," the Phillies manager said at the time.
Now, of course, the question becomes how a bona-fide chance is defined. The Phillies will pass the quarter pole of the season tomorrow night in St. Louis. Francisco is hitting .222. He has 149 plate appearances.
He also didn't start yesterday. John Mayberry Jr. did, for the first time in 10 days. The Phillies had 10 baserunners for the whole. Mayberry was three of them on a pair of walks and a homer that drove in the only runs his team scored.
