PHILADELPHIA — In the context of a 162-game season that runs from the final week of March through the first week of October, a six-game stretch in the middle of August is akin to a needle in a haystack.
Look it up, though, and you will find the sense in what looked like an arbitrary lineup shuffle Monday night for the Phillies.
Bryson Stott batted leadoff in those six games last season. He did well. And he has reached base with a hit in every game so far this year. So, in Game No. 10, with the Phillies facing the reigining Cy Young Award winner, manager Rob Thomson moved Stott into the leadoff spot in what turned out to be a 15-3 shellacking of Sandy Alcantara and the Marlins before 28,642 at Citizens Bank Park.
