Manager Jim Lefebvre has experimented with nine different players in the No. 2 spot in the batting order and has yet to find the man of his dreams.
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Doug Dascenzo, the latest, is doing as well as any of his predecessors. He hit safely in all but one of the first six games in which he batted second. Last season, Dascenzo made 34 starts batting either leadoff or second and had a .297 average with 24 runs scored and a .358 on-base percentage. He had the fifth-best OBP among National League leadoff hitters.
”I like leading off, but I really prefer hitting second,” says Dascenzo. ”I batted second one year in the minors and drove in 83 runs.”
That was with Winston-Salem in the Class A Carolina League in 1986, when he batted .327 in 138 games.
Still going: Mark Grace singled in the sixth inning off Philly starter Curt Schilling to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, the seventh time in his five-year career he has had a streak of 10 games or more. His longest was 19, last season.
Phillie moves: Lefty Kyle Abbott, sent down to Triple-A after going 0-7, was recalled and will start against the Cubs Sunday. He replaces Ben Rivera (0-2), who had been scheduled to start against Mike Morgan (5-2). Rivera remains, butright-hander Cliff Brantley was farmed out with highly-touted rookie shortstop Kim Batiste, who was hitting .206 with 13 errors in 44 games. His roster spot was taken by Wes Chamberlain, the outfielder from Chicago.
Bull`s-eyes: One week after rookie Jim Bullinger was called up to the Cubs to become NL Player of the Week for earning his first four major-league saves in his first four opportunities, his younger brother Kirk, also a pitcher, was drafted by the Cardinals and won his first outing in Class A.