Mackanin: Howard To Start Wednesday, Not Worried About Joseph
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Ryan Howard will start for the second straight game on Wednesday, the series finale against the Cubs.
Howard, after about a week off which included a beer bottle throwing incident, hit a home-run in the Phillies' 3-2 win over the Cubs on Tuesday earning him another start at first-base.
"Well what I'm gonna do is, Tommy Joseph is going to get the brunt of the playing time because we need to see him play," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on Wednesday. "That doesn't mean Ryan Howard is not gonna play. I'm playing him again today, to see if he can build off of that home run he hit. Because, even if he is playing less, he's on the team and we still need him to contribute -- and he did last night.
Listen: Pete Mackanin on the 94WIP Morning Show
"[Howard] came up with that big home-run, made a nice play, he was into it," Mackanin continued. "He was full of energy. I think the energy of the younger guys is rubbing off on him. And I want him to be part of this team as much as he can. However, that being said, I think we all agree that Tommy Joseph has really made a great impression and I've gotta get him a lot of playing time."
Joseph, since being called up to the big leagues on May 13th, is batting .311 with five homers and eight RBI's. In six June games, Joseph is 9-24 (.375) with two homers, two doubles, and three runs batted in.
Mackanin is not worried about slowing him down with a few days off (the Phillies are off on Thursday).
"I'm not worried about [slowing Joseph down] because just in my experience, three days off doesn't necessarily ruin your timing, especially when you've been getting consistent at-bats," Mackanin said. "You look at Howard, who didn't play for almost a week, and that's probably as good as he looked all year at the plate. Sometimes it does you wonders. Instead of getting all wiled up in what type of pitch to look for on a daily basis and you start out thinking yourself. You can start fresh and you can just look for the ball and hit, and I don't think it's going to effect Tommy Joseph. But, however, he will not go for more than a couple of days without playing from here on out."
