Dodgers use same starting lineup for 3rd straight game in Philadelphia

The Dodgers are going for a sweep of the Phillies on Thursday night, using the same batting order for their eight position players as the first two games of this series at Citizens Bank Park.

That includes the same starting eight that produced 22 runs on Tuesday and Wednesday, hitting a total of seven home runs in the first two contests in Philadelphia.

This is the third time all season the Dodgers have used the same batting order one through eight for three straight games, and the first time they have done so for three consecutive days. The other two instances including an off day — April 17-20, and July 23-26.

Thursday’s Dodgers lineup so far has produced 35 runs in the five previous games they have been in this order, and tonight’s sixth game will make this the club’s most common batting order all season.

That includes cleanup hitter Josh Reddick, who has struggled mightily since joining the Dodgers on Aug. 2. He is the current complaint du jour among Dodgers fans who are running of of things to complain about given the club’s resiliency and current first-place standing.

Reddick is 9-for-53 (.170) with a double since joining the Dodgers, and owns a low (.205) batting average on balls in play despite hitting line drives on 12 of his 44 balls in play (27.3 percent).

Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register talked to Reddick on Wednesday:

“It could be frustrating but I feel like I’m having quality at-bats and hitting the ball hard most of the time. It would be worse if I was striking out one or two times a game or rolling over everything and hitting weak grounders. I feel like I’m putting together good at-bats. It (stinks) but I’m not going to be the guy sulking about individual stuff when the team is in first place.

“I’ll come around.”

On the season, Reddick is hitting .274/.343/.402, with a much more normal .297 BABIP and the same 27-percent line drive rate.