Apr 28, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly (8) in the dugout before start of game against the San Francisco Giants at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images Eric Hartline
PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies won 7-0 over the San Francisco Giants Tuesday, with just about everything going right in Don Mattingly's first game as interim manager.
Obviously, it's not going to be that simple every night, but the Phillies are hopeful that making the switch to Mattingly at manager will help them to go from their 10-19 record currently to a fifth consecutive playoff appearance.
What should fans expect from Mattingly as manager moving forward? The former AL MVP hit on a variety of topics during a 17-minute pregame media session Wednesday afternoon before the scheduled game was ultimately postponed due to expected inclement weather.
Phillies and Giants will have a doubleheader tomorrow. First game bumped up to 12:35 p.m. Tonight's game will now be pushed to tomorrow night. @OnPattison pic.twitter.com/8iBCSvdfCV
For much of Rob Thomson's tenure as manager, there was a portion of the fanbase upset that Brandon Marsh didn't get more opportunities to hit against left-handed pitching. Ditto for Bryson Stott.
The Phillies were slated to face Logan Webb Wednesday night before the postponement, with a slew of righties lined up through the weekend in Miami. Nonetheless, it was interesting to hear what Mattingly had to say about whether he'll consider giving Marsh and/or Stott more looks against southpaws.
"Well, I put it this way, we still want to use our guys. We can't just have guys sitting here all the time and never play and expect them to be OK when they do play," Mattingly said.
"That being said, I want to try to put our best lineup out there that gives us the best chance to win. One of the guys you mentioned, Brandon's having great at-bats, and he's having them against everybody. So it says, he basically pushes you to play me, right? If he's hitting .100 or not putting balls in play hard or not having quality at-bats, then he's saying I should be playing the other guy. So, they kind of direct where we go with it all."
For what it's worth, Marsh has just four hits in 21 at-bats against lefties (.190 batting average) so far this year, after he struck out 32 times and posted a .577 OPS against left-handed pitching last year. There's a strong argument to be made that the biggest issue with Marsh isn't that the Phillies have mostly sat him against lefties, but rather that they haven't found a consistent platoon partner.
At the same time, this is a team struggling to get middle-of-the-order hitting. Felix Reyes is Marsh's platoon partner, and he's hit the ball hard early on in his MLB career, even if he only has three hits in 18 at-bats. But Marsh is hitting .298 with a .788 OPS this year, even when you factor in his struggles against lefties. If he continues to mash righties, it stands to reason he could get some more looks against lefties.
Stott has had a very slow start against righties, hitting just .197 in 71 at-bats. He actually does have three hits in nine at-bats against lefties this year. For Stott, it's always seemed that the thing preventing him from facing more lefties isn't that he couldn't hold his own, but that Edmundo Sosa has a .786 career OPS against southpaws.
"Bryson, I know that's been a conversation, is something that he wants to do," Mattingly said. "Again, I just want to put our best club on the field, hopefully matching up a little bit. [Edmundo] Sosa's hit lefties really well in his career. You have to use your personnel, and we're gonna try to put guys in position to have success."
Mattingly had Kyle Backhus warming up in the bottom of the eighth inning Wednesday when the Phillies were leading 5-0. Backhus sat down when the Phillies added two more insurance runs, with Tim Mayza ultimately taking down the final frame.
Still, it makes you wonder whether Backhus — who has a 3.00 ERA in six appearances since being recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on April 15 — is in line for higher-leverage spots as the Phillies try to find consistent left-handed relief.
When asked if that's the case, Mattingly discussed how he views managing a bullpen as a hole.
"We like the way he's thrown the ball," Mattingly acknowledged.
"It depends where your leverage is. Your leverage might be in the fifth, right? We may need one of our better guys there in the fifth, and our best matchup right there. That doesn't mean you're gonna see Jhoan [Duran] in the fifth when he's back and healthy. But I think we should have a number of guys out there that are ready to pitch in semi-any role, as long as we communicate that. 'Hey, this could be a spot tonight.' You meet before the game. You kinda go through your pockets. You kinda know who you want to go in certain pockets of the lineup."
So much gets made of lineup construction, but as Mattingly pointed out pregame, order doesn't tend to make a ton of a difference in the grand scheme of things.
"I've been in different places that use lineup optimizers and things like that," Mattingly said. "And what you find out, it's really you want your best nine. You can kind of put them in any order, and it changes the run value, I mean, so slightly over the course of the year."
In constructing a lineup, Mattingly did note that you don't want to stack too many same-handed players in a row — lefties, for example — because it makes bullpen decisions easier on the opposing manager.
Looking to win the series with Sánchez on the mound
🆚: San Francisco Giants
🏟: Citizens Bank Park
⏰: 6:10 p.m. ET
📺: NBC Sports Philadelphia+, MLB Network (out-of-market only)
📻: English: 94 WIP | Spanish: iHeart App pic.twitter.com/7MJO8xahWr
Mattingly's first two lineups haven't looked much different than Thomson's did, and he says the biggest thing is comfort, particularly from the core pieces.
"I want guys comfortable," Mattingly said. "I do know that as a player, they want to be in spots that they're fairly comfortable with the guys around them and know where they're going to be, especially the big boys, right?"
In Mattingly's estimation, there isn't a pressing need to drastically change the batting order, particularly if guys prefer to hit in a certain spot.
"There may be ways that I think might be a little better, but if you talk to your guys and they're not comfortable, then I'd rather be where they're comfortable and committed," Mattingly siad.
Mattingly's injury updates on J.T. Realmuto (back spasms) and Jhoan Duran (left oblique strain) weren't super specific, but they do give an indication of how he plans to handle players working their way back from health problems.
"You know, we're pushing to find out," Mattingly said of Realmuto. "Obviously, I'm always going to listen to medical and what they do and how they want to get him prepared, running him through the steps to say, is he ready?"
If you didn't remember, Mattingly actually was Realmuto's manager with the Marlins from 2016-2018, so the two already have a preexisting relationship.
"Actually did have a conversation with J.T.," Mattingly revealed. "I know he's a tough guy, I had him in Miami. He's going to want to play, but I also want him to know that, from my standpoint, I want him healthy when he comes back. I don't want five days and this thing flares up again.
"We need a strong J.T. to be the best J.T. we can. Stubby and Marchy can handle the catching duties until he's ready. So, we want him back being J.T., and not for a week. We want him to give us the best chance for him to stay healthy."
The message regarding Duran was pretty similar.
"We think he's getting close," Mattingly said. "It's one of those things, he's the same for me exactly as J.T. Medical is telling us what he's doing. He's progressing, he's doing better. When they say he's ready, then we're gonna go. But again, we want him to be ready to go when he comes back. We gotta be able to use him the way you use Jhoan Duran, and I want to be able to do that when he comes back."
It's unclear exactly how close Duran is, but it sounds as though the flame-throwing righty could soon throw off the mound.
"I don't think he's got off the mound, and I'm 99% sure that we're not there yet," Mattingly said. "We'll see where he's at in a couple days. I think he's due off in a few days. If he makes it, great. And if he doesn't, then we keep going until he's ready."
