Phillies' Opening Day Lineup and Dalembert's Offense

Now that the main pieces of the Phillies' roster seem to be in place, we can make some educated guesses as to the opening day batting order. Charlie Manuel did a lot of lineup shuffling last year and that is sure to continue as the new season progresses. Mitch Williams predicts that on opening day it will look like this: Rollins, Werth, Utley, Howard, Victorino, Ibanez, Feliz, and Ruiz with Victorino inserted to prevent a lefty-lefty-lefty scenario. But Shane is really ill-suited for the 5th spot. Playing every day, Werth should be a 30 home run guy which would make him a more appropriate replacement for the slot after Ryan Howard. Admittedly, Victorino is not an ideal #2 hitter either. Ultimately it's going to come down to who's swinging the hot bat. Werth and Victorino are each coming off career years but their consistency is still in doubt.

Dee Lynam said on the air the other night that it doesn't matter if Sam Dalembert scores if he pulls in 17 rebounds (his total in the Wizards game) and blocks some shots. Well if he got 17 rebounds and 3-4 blocked shots every night, it probably wouldn't matter. But the fact is if you're almost 7 feet tall, reasonably athletic, and play 25-30 minutes, there is no reason not to score at least 10 points per game. Dalembert should have at least three dunks a night, which he could get easily just by running the floor. He should also pledge in writing - witnessed and notarized - that he will never again take a fadeaway jump shot.