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Phillies-Mets Preview

Jun 11, 2009 - 5:09 AM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Philadelphia (33-23) at New York (31-25), 7:10 p.m. EDT

Perhaps Jimmy Rollins isn't ready to be back in the leadoff spot for the Philadelphia Phillies. Chase Utley doesn't seem to mind being moved around in the batting order against the New York Mets.

While Rollins continues to struggle, Utley looks to continue his power surge at Citi Field as the Phillies play the decisive game of a three-game set with the Mets on Thursday night.

Players have generally had a tough time hitting homers at Citi Field, New York's spacious new ballpark, but Utley has three in his last two games there and 15 overall this season.

Utley connected twice Wednesday night, one of which led off the 11th inning as the Phillies (34-23) went on to beat the Mets 5-4. The second baseman had a solo homer the previous evening in the series opener as Philadelphia lost 6-5.

New York (31-26) is 4-2 against Philadelphia this season but trails the first-place Phillies by three games in the NL East.

"Every game we play with them is big. It's a rivalry. Everything about it is good," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. "We like to play them and they like to play us. We're pretty even teams."

All three of Utley's homers in this series have been hit into the right-field corner. He didn't homer in his last 15 games at Shea Stadium, New York's previous home.

Utley has been successful despite a lineup shuffle, being moved back to his usual No. 3 spot Wednesday after batting second the previous two games to help accommodate Rollins' drop to sixth in the order. Rollins totaled five hits in those contests, but went 0 for 5 after being moved back to the leadoff role in the middle game of this series.

The 2007 NL MVP has struggled, batting .226 with four homers and 20 RBIs. It's uncertain if Manuel will remove him from the leadoff spot again.

"The biggest thing about Jimmy's hitting so far is consistency, of course," Manuel said.

Philadelphia may need a big effort from its lineup with Jamie Moyer (4-5, 6.27 ERA) facing New York. Moyer is 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA in two starts versus the Mets this season but is 8-5 with a 3.64 ERA in 22 career starts against them.

Moyer is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in his last two starts. The 46-year-old left-hander allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings of a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

New York will try to bounce back after stranding a season-high 16 runners, eight from innings seven through 10.

David Wright, though, had a big game, going 3 for 5 to raise his average to .354. He's batting .636 (14 for 22) over his last six games.

Wright went 4 for 5 on Friday night against Washington in the last game started by Tim Redding (0-2, 6.97), who will take the mound in this series' finale. He allowed one run and six hits in six innings as New York won 3-1 in 10 innings.

The veteran right-hander is 5-3 with a 3.29 ERA in 11 starts against the Phillies.

Philadelphia has scored 17 runs in its last three games, winning two of those contests to improve to 6-3 on a 10-game trip and a major league-best 22-9 away from home.