LOS ANGELES — The Phillies will face a lefty at Dodger Stadium on Friday night, and provided that Brandon Marsh’s right middle finger isn’t swollen, he will be in the lineup along with Bryson Stott. For years, the two lefty hitters have been the subjects of a constant debate over whether they can be everyday players. The Phillies intended to platoon them in 2026.And then, it just happened. They are playing every day, and they are producing against lefties.“I wasn’t here before, obviously,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. “Just going with what I see, what kind of club we have. We haven’t had anybody really step up and say, ‘Hey, I need to be playing against lefties.’ So I’ll play the defense.”That’s the reality; this was essentially an accident. Many of the Phillies’ right-handed bats have struggled. So, rather than blindly go for the platoon advantage, the Phillies have let Marsh and Stott play. Marsh has hit a respectable .282/.326/.385 in 43 plate appearances versus lefties this season. Stott is at .333/.438/.481 in 33 plate appearances.They have taken advantage of the opportunities.“They’ve been just as good as the righties,” Mattingly said. “I can put it that way. So it’s not like I’m taking a guy that’s crushing out of the lineup to keep them in.”Marsh and Stott have craved a prolonged chance at being everyday guys. This is not the first shot; there have been times over the past four seasons when the Phillies tried it. Maybe it won’t last the season.But right now, the Phillies cannot be picky about fielding a lineup. Mattingly has platooned rookie Justin Crawford instead of Marsh, but that has required sticking infielder Edmundo Sosa in left field. Sosa hasn’t hit. Crawford snapped an 0-for-23 skid in Wednesday’s win over the San Diego Padres. Many of the manager’s decisions come with challenges.A smattering of other things I think I think after a sweep in San Diego:1. I think the Phillies’ bench needs a reimagining, and that will begin Friday with a modest transaction. The Phillies optioned Otto Kemp to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, team sources told The Athletic. They are expected to add Steward Berroa, a switch-hitting outfielder, to the active roster.Berroa was a waiver claim last month. He turns 27 in June and has 30 career games in the majors with the Toronto Blue Jays and Milwaukee Brewers. He has a .761 OPS in 168 plate appearances in Triple A this season while mostly playing center field. Berroa probably will not play much for the Phillies, but he can provide speed and defense. That is not something the Phillies have had on their bench.Kemp batted five times in the past 10 days, and it had become clear Mattingly was not going to use him. The same thing happened with Felix Reyes. Both have looked overmatched against big-league pitching.“It was tough to find at-bats, and I don’t want to force it,” Mattingly said. “So it’s a tough spot to be in.”The Phillies are still carrying three catchers. Garrett Stubbs has not appeared in a game since May 18.2. I think Orion Kerkering is throwing the ball about as well as he has since arriving in the majors at the end of the 2023 season. He has a 2.21 ERA with 21 strikeouts and eight walks in 20 1/3 innings. He walked Manny Machado to begin the seventh inning Tuesday night, then struck out the next three batters on 12 pitches.“You saw it in that game,” Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham said. “It was a four-pitch walk, and you just watch him. There’s really no emotion. There is no feeling of, ‘I need to do something different.’ He just gets right back on the mound and makes pitches. It’s flowed from him not overthinking things.”Kerkering has sharpened his sweeping slider, the pitch that put him on a fast track to the majors. “Just keeping a strength a strength,” Cotham said. The movement is better. He’s in the zone more, throwing a higher percentage of first-pitch strikes. It all looks better as Kerkering returns to Dodger Stadium, site of his painful error, this weekend.3. I think J.T. Realmuto should challenge more pitches from behind the plate. The Phillies, as of Thursday, had the fifth-fewest ABS challenges from their fielders, which includes seven challenges made by their pitchers. Phillies catchers have won 25 of their 39 challenges. Realmuto is 14-4 on his challenges. He has one of the best success rates in the sport.But he’s challenging way less than most catchers. Put it this way: Realmuto has caught the ninth-most innings in MLB but had the 47th-most challenges among catchers as of Thursday. Even Rafael Marchán, who has caught 166 fewer innings, has challenged more than Realmuto.