Second baseman Brandon Phillips hadn't missed an inning this season before Wednesday, when he was held out of the starting lineup. He pinch-hit in the ninth inning of a 3-0 win over the Astros.
Phillips is batting .188, but he refuses to call it a slump. "I will hit. I'm that confident," he said. "It's not a slump because I'm not striking out and I'm hitting the ball hard. A slump is when you go 0-for-20 with 12 strikeouts and don't hit the ball hard."
Phillips returns to the lineup Friday night when his team begins a five-game road trip at Pittsburgh and Florida.
Manager Dusty Baker is reluctant to remove his Gold Glove second baseman from the lineup, despite a low batting average, "because he means so much to us defensively."
Phillips suffered through an 0-for-22 skid on the last road trip but had a double and a home run in Tuesday's game against the Astros, the last game he started.
