"THE THIRD HITTER, Chase Utley, took ground balls yesterday without the benefit of a lawn chair, but he and his bum knee are still on the disabled list to start the season.

The fifth hitter, Jayson Werth, went 0-for-2 with a walk yesterday in his final exhibition appearance, but he is still playing for the Washington Nationals.

Between them, the fourth hitter remains.

All around Ryan Howard, the space is defined by change. We are 2 days before the season opener and Phillies manager Charlie Manuel still will not say out loud the names of the people he intends to hit in front of and behind Howard in the lineup. Maybe today.

Some combination of Raul Ibanez, Ben Francisco and/or Placido Polanco figures to slide into the available slots - but who knows? - after which we will go about the business of drooling over the starting rotation. That is what 2011 will be about, the aforementioned drooling - assuming, that is, that the Phillies' lineup replicates some semblance of its output in 2010.

They do not need to score 772 runs again, which was second in the National League. What this lineup does need to do, though, is reach four runs at least as often as it did in 2010. They did it 87 times last year, which was exactly the NL average, which is a much better way of characterizing what went on than the run total.

Repeat: This was an average offense that experienced feasts, famines and a bunch of key injuries. The Phillies' production was significant, and sometimes prodigious, but it was not smooth. It came in bunches, followed by frustrating lulls. It was good enough, given the quality of the starting pitching, but not much more.

Without Werth, without Utley at the start, it is easy to see more of the same - or worse. With that, you cannot look at any of their potential lineups and not fixate on Howard's name.

"I don't know exactly who's healthy and I'm still looking for some balance in our lineup," Manuel said. "The biggest problem that we've got is the third and the fifth hitter aren't here this year . . . Those are run producers. And if you look, I don't see anybody there in the background that knocks in 95 or 100 runs. Those are big, important parts of the order.

"I'm not saying that our guys can't, because we usually have somebody that steps up. I'm optimistic about it . . . but that's a concern of mine.""