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You have to give manager Charle Manuel a lot of credit. Last year, it happened to the Mets. This year, it happened to the Red Sox. The same has happened to the Phillies . But unlike the Red Sox and Mets, Manuel and the Phillies have persevered through it and now find themselves in serious playoff contention heading into the last few weeks of the season. It began with Jimmy Rollins. Then Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino followed. Altogether, the plethora of Phillies All-Stars have combined to miss over 130 games due to injury.

But not making any big moves, the organization didn't panic, using secondary players like Mike Sweeney, Wilson Valdez and Ross Gload to help right the ship until the regulars returned. Now that they have all mostly come back (Rollins just went back on the shelf), with the assistance of the new great trio of arms, Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt, who have been reliable for a majority of the season, the Phillies have caught up with and now have gotten past the Atlanta Braves to take over their familiar first place position in the NL East.

The Braves want their manager Bobby Cox to go out in glory, but with what they have gone through this season and what they've shown to do in crunch time the last couple of seasons, the Phillies have a great chance of taking away one great story and making one for themselves.

This week "At the Market", the special is "Missouri middle inflielders for cheap". I'll talk about a non-pitcher who's making a comeback from Tommy John surgery and a West Coaster who's trying to provide a needed spark for an infield in the Midwest.

Mike Aviles - 2B/SS - Kansas City

Once again, the Kansas City Royals will finish a regular season as one of the two worst teams in the AL Central. But for this year, you cannot blame the offense, as they are currently 3rd in MLB with a .275 BA. A lot of their success at the plate should go to the infield. 1B Billy Butler is starting to validate his KC's 1st Round selection in '04. After batting .301 with 21 HR and 93 RBI last season, he's batting .311 with 12 HR and 68 RBI so far this season. Since coming up the BIGS in '01, corner IF Wilson Betemit has had a hard time earning some serious playing time, bouncing back and forth from the Majors and Minors. But after being called up in late May, he started to show signs of life, eventually earning a full-time spot in August. In his last and really only season of quality playing time, he batted .305 with 4 HR and 20 RBI in 115 games in '05 with Atlanta. In 71 games in '10 with KC, he's already had a career year, batting .313 with 11 HR and 35 RBI. Like Betemit, IF Alberto Callaspo was undrafted, but unlike Betemit, had some success in Minors, with a career .317 BA in seven seasons. After spending the first three seasons mostly on the pine, he got his first real opportunity in '09 and shined, batting .300 with 11 HR and 73 RBI. He carried that over into this season for KC, batting .275 with 8 HR and 43 RBI in 88 games. However, with the team not going anywhere, he became expendable around the trade deadline, eventually being acquired by the Angels in late July.

And now let's get to another reason for KC's infield offensive surge this season. Mike Aviles was drafted in '03 by the Royals in the 7th Round. The first five seasons in the Minors was a little bit of a roller coaster, producing quality seasons in '05 (.280, 14 HR, 80 RBI) and '07 (.296, 17, 77 RBI). Finally getting the call in '08, he showed he was ready, as in 102 games, he had 10 HR and 51 RBI while batting .325, which was the highest BA among rookies. However, he wasn't able to carry that over into '09, batting just .183 with 1 HR and 8 RBI in the first 36 games. And then he proved it doesn't just happen to pitchers, as he was shut down for the rest of the season after receiving Tommy John surgery.

He spent the majority of this April in the Minors, eventually being called back up in May. He had a decent first half, batting .305 with 2 HR and 14 RBI in 55 games. After batting .216 in July, he has recovered nicely in August and September (so far), batting over .300 in each. He had been sharing time with Chris Getz at 2B, but now after Getz's recent concussion, Aviles has taken over the 2B position now and probably for the rest of '10. Keep in mind that in the second half of '08, he batted .332 with 6 HR and 30 RBI. It looks like Aviles is determined to show that '08 was no fluke and the surgery will not become a detriment. Fantasy owners should get him at a pretty cheap price.

Brendan Ryan - 2B/SS - St. Louis

Staying in Missouri, its been a different source of offense for the Cardinals in '10. OF Matt Holliday has had a normal offensive showing (.308, 26 HR, 93 RBI). It has been the breakouts of OFs Colby Rasmus (.272, 22 HR, 61 RBI) and Jon Jay (.309, 4 HR, 26 RBI) that have opened up eyes and make the future for St. Louis extremely bright.

One of the reasons they have started to fall behind in the playoff chase has been the lack of output from the infield. Well of course, I'm not talking about that guy on 1B named Albert who's having his annual MVP-type season (.308, 39 HR, 104 RBI). But as you start to head to the left, you won't find much more production. The age of 30 hasn't been kind to veteran utility IF Felipe Lopez, who's having one of his worst seasons of his career (.231, 7 HR, 36 RBI). 2B Skip Schumaker has batted over .300 in each of his first three seasons of quality playing time, but finds himself batting just .271 in '10. Then there's 3B David Freese, who was finally getting his first big break, was having a good first half (.296, 4 HR, 36 RBI). However, rehabbing after suffering a right ankle sprain in late June, he suffered a tendon injury on the same leg, which required season-ending surgery.

Drafted in the 7th Round of the '03 Draft, it took Brendan Ryan until '07 to make it to the BIGS. During that period, he didn't show much offensively, but showed he can run with four seasons of double-digit SB. Just like in the Minors, in his first two seasons in the pros, he wasn't very productive, with 4 HR, 22 RBI and 14 SB in 147 games. He has come alive a little bit the last two seasons, especially in the extra-base and SB category, with a combined 10 3B and 24 SB. However, there are two negatives to his fantasy value.

1. Batting just .218 heading into September, he needed to go 10 for his last 23 to raise his BA to .228.
2. Most of his games (92) have been spent at the 8th and 9th spots in the lineup, which is not that attractive, especially when you have the above-mentioned struggling Schumaker and Lopez hitting after you.

Ryan should continue to hang around as a cheap source of double-digit steals for NL-only leaguers, but he offers little else.

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