Righty loosey, Lefty tighty

Your statement of the week is not really to ponder. It's an assertion that should just be printed out and shoved in the face of Charlie Manual. The Phillies' right handed bats off the bench are lacking, and the team needs help.

Eric Bruntlett, who somehow gets starts at 3rd base, for the injured Pedro Feliz, against right handed pitchers instead of Greg Dobbs, is hitting a juicy .218 (41 for 188) this year. Bruntlett has 7 doubles, 2 homers and 13 RBI this season with a .601 OPS. Bruntlett has only 1 RBI since May 8th. Yes, ONE run batted in, in more than 3 months. Bruntlett has a .205 batting average vs. righties.

By comparison, Dobbs, a lefty, has already set the Phillies' single season record for pinch hits in a season, with 21. Dobbs against righties is hitting .311.

Another righty off the bench is So Taguchi. In 73 games, this year, So is batting .221 (17 for 77) with 5 doubles, no homers, 6 RBI and a .571 OPS. Taguchi has 1 extra base hit since May 26th.

Left-handed starting pitcher Cole Hamels unfortunately also BATS lefty. He has a .281 batting average this season. He is 16 for 57. Yes, phans...Cole Hamels has just one less hit than So Taguchi this season. Cole's OPS is even 26 points higher than So's.

Your combo of reserve righties, So T. and Eric B., have a combined .237 avg. since June 1st. Isn't there any righty bat the Phillies could aquire to get some help?

September call-ups (Lou Marson hitting .319, Jason Donald hitting .308, both right-handed batters) aren't very far away. But in the meantime, the Phils need to pull off a waiver deadline move to fill this hole.

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