Philadelphia Phillies: 5 Players Who You Want Up Most with the Game on the Line

Allow me to set the scene.

It is Game 7 of the World Series and your team, let’s say the Philadelphia Phillies, is down by just one run in the bottom of the ninth. There are runners on second and third, so chances are any outfield hit is going to win the game. The problem is, the opposing team is throwing its closer and you are down to just one out, one strike remaining. This is your only chance to win the game.

And that is where the age-old, heavily debated, baseball question is asked: “With the game on the line, who do you want taking that final swing?”

Fans of every team everywhere and at every point in time have likely discussed, debated, analyzed and put some thought into who on their team they would want at the dish in a do-or-die situation.

The only problem for teams, however, is that more often than not, they really don’t have a choice of who takes the final swing. In fact, unless a pinch hitter is substituted, whoever just so happens to be up is the guy who will bat.

So with that being said, there are of course reasons why you want Ryan Howard taking the final swing as opposed to Freddy Galvis, for example.

These reasons include a certain confidence factor, the all-important and hopefully ever-present “clutch gene,” an overall recent body of work and of course, the ability to hit in tough situations with runners on base, an 0-2 count and an average with RISP.

Here are the five guys on the Phillies who meet most, if not all, of these requirements and really are the guys any fan would love to have at bat in the ninth inning or later with the game on the line.

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