Major League Baseball

Inside the Phillies: Phillies entering the unfriendly confines by the bay

Published Oct. 19, 2010 10:15 a.m. ET

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SAN FRANCISCO - Now the Phillies get to face the San Francisco starting pitcher they've had the most success against in the National League ballpark where they've had their least amount of success.

With the best-of-seven National League Championship Series even at one game apiece, the Phillies go against righthander Matt Cain Tuesday afternoon at AT&T Park in Game 3.

Unlike teammates Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez, Cain does not have dominating career numbers against the Phillies. In fact, the Phillies are the only National League team he has never beaten.

In five career starts against the Phillies, the 26-year-old righthander is 0-3 with a 6.23 ERA and has allowed 28 hits, including seven home runs, in 26 innings. Those numbers are a bit deceiving because most of the Phillies' damage was done early in Cain's career. In his last two starts against the Phillies, he has a 2.77 ERA.

The Phillies beat the Giants, 9-3, in Cain's only start against them this season, Aug. 18 at Citizens Bank Park. Cain allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings, but only two of the runs were earned.

Second baseman Chase Utley is 7 for 15 with three home runs and seven RBIs against Cain. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins is 6 for 10 with five extra-base hits and five RBIs. First baseman Ryan Howard is just 2 for 10, but the two hits are both home runs.

"You can throw it all out the door again," centerfielder Shane Victorino said when asked about the past track records. "This is about now and not what you've done in the past. Having some kind of success is nice to know, but it doesn't matter. I've always believed that."

It will be interesting to see how much weight past performance carries with manager Charlie Manuel when he fills out his lineup card Tuesday morning. Manuel moved Utley to second in the batting order and third baseman Placido Polanco to third in Game 2, and that duo was involved in all the Phillies' scoring during Sunday night's 6-1 victory.

"I'll think about it," Manuel said.

Given Utley's power numbers against the righthander Cain, it seems far more likely that Polanco will return to the No. 2 spot, and Utley will again bat third. Manuel has only moved those two out of their customary spots in the order when the team was facing a lefthanded pitcher. Polanco said he thought he'd be hitting second Tuesday.

The Phillies showed good patience against Sanchez in Game 2, and Cain suspects they'll try to do the same against him.

"I think it just all depends on how I go out there and attack them," Cain said. "If I'm not throwing strikes, you know they're probably going to try to be patient. If you're attacking the strike zone, you kind of put the pressure on them."

Playing in AT&T Park, which opened as Pac Bell Park in 2000, the Phillies are 14-24. The .368 winning percentage is their worst at any National League park. They have not won a series here since the 2006 season. In each of the last four seasons, the Giants have taken two of three games at home against the Phillies.

This ballpark is bigger than Citizens Bank Park and, particularly in right field, it plays much different.

"The air coming off the bay seems a little heavier," Howard said. "The alleys are bigger. But I think you keep the same approach. You don't try to do too much. Actually playing in a bigger park allows guys to calm their approach down a little bit. You get more of a line-drive attitude rather than playing in Cincinnati or Citizens Bank, where guys try to drop their back shoulder and try to hit it out of the park. Parks like this you can try to drive it and run."

Phillies rightfielder Jayson Werth said his defensive coverage area at AT&T Park is different than any place else in baseball.

"I was talking to Domonic Brown about it and at one point I told him this was probably one of the toughest right fields to play because of the angles and the ball travels kind of weird out there," Werth said. "I hit a ball earlier this year here in the ninth inning that was probably a foul ball any other place. But here, for some reason, the ball comes back to the line. It's just another thing you have to worry about.

"There have been balls here where I've gone back on them and I end up having to run back in. It just seems like there is always something going on out there that you don't really see anywhere else."

Contact staff writer Bob Brookover at 215-854-2577 or bbrookover@phillynews.com.