Major League Baseball

Good luck comes in 3-hole for Polanco, Phils

Published Oct. 18, 2010 10:10 a.m. ET

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AGAINST THE EVIL lefthandedness that was Jonathan Sanchez, the Phillies, logically, needed a righthanded hitter to come through.

Charlie Manuel bet it would be Placido Polanco. He bet it so hard that he dropped Polanco to the No. 3 slot and moved regular No. 3 hitter Chase Utley into Polanco's No. 2 hole.

Manuel was right.

"Charlie's a genius," said Phillies leadoff hitter Shane Victorino.

Polanco made Manuel look like it.

In the first inning, with Utley on second, Polanco made contact - important against Sanchez, a strikeout artist - and grounded to third base. Mike Fontenot's throw was low and wide, moving Utley to third. He later scored on a bases-loaded walk.

Polanco then supplied the sacrifice fly in the fifth inning that scored Victorino and gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

Polanco's unlikely RBI single to centerfield in the seventh cushioned things further, the first blood in a four-run rally that clinched the win and evened the NLCS at a game apiece.

"That's exactly what we needed out of 'Polly,' " said Manuel the Genius. "Polly's that kind of hitter. Tonight, he got some situations where he was able to produce."

It was unlikely because it scored pitcher Roy Oswalt from second base after Oswalt ran through a stop sign from third-base coach Sam Perlozzo.

It was unlikely, also, because it came off righthander Ramon Ramirez, who had just intentionally walked Utley. Polanco was hitless in four career tries against Ramirez, and he seemed anything but locked in. And, fighting a back issue that already cost him one game and a chronic elbow issue that causes frequent difficulty, he was 2-for-15 in the playoffs.

Still, as a key offseason addition, Polanco was the Phillies' second-best hitter this season, at .298. Besides, he has credentials. An All-Star, Polanco was the MVP of the 2006 ALCS with Detroit, and he'd been to the playoffs with the Cardinals, too. He entered last night with a .277 postseason average in 28 games.

This was not his first rodeo, so Manuel rode him.

"It satisfying. It was a good feeling," Polanco said of his RBI, the ninth and 10th of what is becoming a distinguished playoff career.

"You get more relaxed as you play a lot of games in the postseason," Polanco said.

Polanco then scored as part of the two-out, three-run double by Jimmy Rollins.

Rollins, a switch-hitter, might have been Manuel's righthanded hope, but Rollins had been frigid in the postseason and, historically, Sanchez iced him: Rollins was 1-for-16 before his RBI walk and his single last night, so he remained in the No. 6 spot.

Polanco was 3-for-9 against Sanchez. He even contributed this season, when Sanchez crushed the Phillies, surrendering five total hits in two starts. Shane Victorino had four. Polanco had the other one.

"I didn't even know that," Polanco said.

Manuel did.

Maybe that made the lineup choice simpler.

Jayson Werth, remaining in the No. 5 hole, could have served as the big righthanded bat, but he didn't. Sanchez struck out Werth twice with runners in scoring position and induced a weak grounder in their third faceoff.

It was not Rollins or Werth.

Manuel placed his hope in Polanco.

It is a move he has used against tough lefthanded starters before, so the starter couldn't dominate lineup centerpieces Utley and Ryan Howard, both of whom hit lefthanded.

"I want to have a righthanded hitter between them," Manuel said.

He picked the right one.

Genius.