PHILADELPHIA—Just had our pregame meeting with Joe Maddon, with the way he will use his pitchers tonight the primary topic.

If this was an American League game, I’d say there’s a decent bet you might see David Price go all the way through or close to it as long as he was effective. But the batting order figures to have a much more significant say in what the Rays do on the mound.

Balfour will be in the game to start things off, and the Rays probably will have a couple of guys warming up in the bullpen. If I had to guess at two, I’d go with Price and Trever Miller. The Rays’ best-case scenario is that Balfour retires the Phillies 1-2-3. That would keep Chase Utley from coming to the plate and eliminate the necessity to bring a lefty out of the bullpen.

If Utley does get to the plate, I imagine we’ll see a lefty come into the game—but I don’t know that it’ll be Price. The pitcher’s spot is due up fourth for the Rays in the top of the seventh, so Maddon might not want to be boxed into either having Price hit with at least one man on base in the seventh or having to taking him down for a pinch-hitter and potentially wasting an inning or two the Rays might otherwise get out of the rookie.

“Our pitcher hitting fourth presents a little bit of a dilemma,” Maddon said.

Charlie Manuel didn’t say who he’d send up to pinch-hit for Cole Hamels to start the bottom of the sixth, but Geoff Jenkins seems a good bet. Matt Stairs is 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in his career against Balfour and Greg Dobbs is the Phillies’ best pinch-hitter, so Manuel probably will be inclined to save him for later in the game.

If I had to guess about the whole scenario, I’d say Balfour faces whoever comes up to pinch-hit, along with Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth. If Utley bats, assuming the bases aren’t loaded or something along those lines, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Miller in there in hopes that he can get one or two outs and get out of the inning.

If that’s the case, the Rays would be able to bring in Price (or Howell or Bradford or Wheeler) for the bottom of the seventh with no concerns about their own batting order. Even if the Rays go down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, they could do a double-switch and take Rocco Baldelli out of the game. That would put the new right fielder in the ninth spot in the order (thus leading off the eighth) and the new pitcher hitting seventh.

It’s quite a bit to process, and Maddon has had it rattling around in his brain for nearly two days now.

“I don’t know, maybe seven to 10 different thoughts I’m having right now,” he said when asked how many variations he was kicking around. “That would be fair. And I’m here to tell you, not one is right. It’s just a matter of getting outs and people getting their job done. If people get people out then you’re in good shape, and if the don’t, like any other game, you’re not.”

By the way, Manuel said in his pregame news conference that Ryan Madson will get the ball to start the seventh. Unless the Rays really get on an offensive role, I’d be surprised to see anybody but Madson and Brad Lidge in the seventh through the ninth.