I'm finally back from a weekend of masochism (a.k.a. the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, Vt. where the temperature reached 85 oppressive degrees under an unimpeded, sweltering sun) and a couple of days at the ballpark to get back into the grind of writing about a baseball team.
But before we get into the baseball stuff it's important to welcome Miss Lucy Samantha St. Clair to the world after her birthday on May 25. From the sound of it, Lucy was rarin' to go and surprised everyone by making her debut six weeks early. So far, Lucy's mom and dad are doing really well, but we're sure they're going to be tired soon.
Tired old injuries... Jon Lieber had an MRI yesterday to determine the extent of the damage caused to his injured groin. However, at the time we saw Lieber in the clubhouse he did not know the results of his exam, but that doesn't really matter. Whether or not his groin muscle is torn doesn't seem to change the period he will be out, which the Phillies are saying will be three weeks to a month.
Either way, Lieber's absence will hurt the Phillies. Sure, he hasn't been as good as in past seasons, but the big righthander is still an innings eater, who has pitched the team to the seventh inning in all but three of his 11 starts and one of those was lastMonday when he left the game early because of his injury.
Plus, Lieber won a lot of games last season because of his ability to keep himself (and the team) in games.
In his place the Phillies decided to call up Eude Brito from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre instead of activating Cole Hamels from the disabled list. Hamels, of course, is pitching in a rehab assignment for Single-A Lakewood tonight where he'll throw between 75-80 pitches, so it makes the move to plunk Brito into the rotation for a turn or two look like general maintenance.
But that's where it gets tricky. The Phillies very easily could have opted simply to activate Hamels to pitch Saturday in Lieber's normal spot where he could throw his 75-80 pitches against Major Leaguers for a team in desperate need of pitching help, but instead decided to have the lefty phenom pitch tonight... The same day as Gavin Floyd -- and his 6.62 ERA -- take the mound against the Dodgers.
When Hamels is ready to pitch again it will be on the same day as Floyd.
Does this mean Floyd has been put on alert? Or that the improved Ryan Madson is a better option for the rotation now than Floyd? Maybe there is a trade brewing? After all, there were a whole bunch of scouts in the press box during the past two days. Some of that might have to do with the upcoming draft, but where there are scouts, there are a lot of people talking with conspiratorial voices.
Even manager Charlie Manuel's comments about the situation are cryptic:
"I don't want to put pressure on our young pitchers. I want them to be able to go out there and throw their game. I don't want them to read into things. I don't want them to go out there thinking 'I've got to get this guy out or I'm going to the minors.' I'll surprise them one way or the other.
"I think when you're pitching, somewhere along the line, unless you're pitching outstanding, there's going to be some heat put on you."
Certainly the situation would be solved so much more easily if Randy Wolf were ready to go. Even though the All-Star lefty looked pretty sharp in his first game action (he whiffed five of the seven hitters he faced in two innings in an extended spring training game), he's still at least a month or two away from joining the Phillies.
Interestingly, Wolf is pitching again in an extended spring training game on Saturday.
Etc. Does anyone think former Phillie Jason Michaels went over to new teammate Scott Sauerbeck, showed him a copy of his mug shot from last summer's little dust-up with the local police and said, "I understand, man... I've been there."
Maybe not, huh?