Philadelphia Phillies Rumors & News

PhillyBurbs.com "In a few days, Chase Utley will return to the Phillies’ active roster, and the everyday lineup that Ruben Amaro Jr. drew up in long and dreary winter days will finally be together again. At that point, Kevin Frandsen will return to his spot as one of the first guys off Charlie Manuel’s bench...." June 19

Philly.com "The shaving cream was still visible in Domonic Brown's hair when he arrived at his locker in a T-shirt and shorts. The single he knocked through the middle of the Nationals infield was not the most impressive hit of the night, but it was the last one, and that meant a heck of a lot for a..." June 18

Boston Globe "Early this week, the Houston Astros will formulate a game plan as to how to approach their veteran assets. Teams are already calling about Bud Norris, a cheap ($3 million) solution to any contender’s rotation. Cheap in salary, but he won’t be cheap in acquisition cost. The Astros are willing..." June 17

Philly.com "Chase Utley could begin a minor league rehab assignment as soon as tomorrow. Utley took live batting practice on Friday and Saturday at Coors Field. It was the first time he hit with the rest of his teammates before a game since suffering a right oblique strain in a batting practice swing in..." June 17

CSN Philly "Jonathan Pettibone’s difficult outing in Coors Field on Saturday has led to some speculation that the Phillies might bring Carlos Zambrano to the majors for a start later this week. Not happening. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Sunday that Zambrano was not ready to pitch in the..." June 17

Denver Post "The Rockies had lost three consecutive home games and were smarting after blowing a five-run lead in an 8-7 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night. They really needed a win. What they got was a highlight-reel, 10-5 victory over the Phillies on Saturday at Coors Field. From Carlos..." June 16

CSN Philly "The Phillies on Friday signed their second and third picks from the 2013 First-Year Player Draft, Andrew Knapp and Cord Sandberg. Knapp, taken 53rd overall, is a 21-year-old catcher out of Cal-Berkeley. He produced a slash line of .350/.434/.544 with 16 doubles, eight homers and 41 RBIs (he led..." June 15

Courier-Post "Cliff Lee sat in the clubhouse at Coors Field with Kyle Kendrick and Jonathan Papelbon, the three pitchers playing a pre-game contest of Connect Four. Lee won every game he played before retiring. “Nobody in this clubhouse is going to beat me at this game,” Lee said jovially. It’s been hard..." June 15

CSN Philly "How do you figure this one? The Phillies came into baseball’s ultimate hitter’s park with the third-worst bullpen ERA (4.51) in the majors Friday night. And, of course, that bullpen held the majors’ second-highest scoring team scoreless for 4 2/3 innings. That’s almost as hard to believe as a..." June 15

Courier-Post "The air was crisp Thursday at Target Field. The temperature hovered in the mid-70s for most of the contest, a rare occurrence in June. It was gorgeous baseball weather. Despite the Phillies’ 3-2 comeback win, which snapped a five-game losing streak, frustration seemed to mount. The pitiful..." June 14

Minneapolis Star Tribune "It’s the command, they say, that’s the last thing to come when rebounding from Tommy John surgery. And command has kept its latest case, righthander Mike Pelfrey, from assuming a commanding role in the Twins rotation a year after the surgery. The fastball seems fine. It was clocked at 94 miles..." June 13

CSN Philly "Phillies catcher Erik Kratz is headed for surgery. An MRI performed on Kratz’s left knee Monday revealed a medial meniscus tear that will need to be repaired surgically. It is unclear when Kratz will have the surgery and a timetable for his recovery will not be known until doctors perform the..." June 11

Philly.com "Two Phillies catchers hopped planes in opposite directions Sunday morning, the latest development at a position ravaged by injury. Erik Kratz was placed on the disabled list and flew to Philadelphia for an MRI exam on his left knee. Steven Lerud caught a 7 a.m. flight and arrived at Milwaukee's..." June 10

CSN Philly "Ruben Amaro Jr.’s offseason plan consisted of this: Get the Phillies’ core players healthy, hope they produce, add some complementary pieces, fix the eighth inning, and make a push at returning to the postseason before Father Time catches up with the club and some key players’ contracts run..." June 10

Fox Sports Wisconsin "It had been some time since everything clicked at once for the Milwaukee Brewers. Struggles in one facet of the game would lead to the demise of the others. At long last, the Brewers got a well-pitched game, the offense put up a crooked number and the defense made big plays in a 9-1 victory..." June 10

Courier-Post "After each promising start, Tyler Cloyd and Jonathan Pettibone stand in front of their locker and answer the same questions about their future. Do they think about how their time here could come to an end quickly? Does that affect at all how they pitch? Each time, they reply with the same..." June 09

Delaware County Times "Even though it meant he was out of work during the baseball season for the first time in a long while, Carlos Zambrano is happy he got to spend Mother’s Day with his mother. He’d like to spend Father’s Day as part of the Phillies’ starting five. The right-hander, whom the Phillies signed to a..." June 09

Philly.com "It takes some searching for the Phillies organization to find a reason to believe, really believe, these days. There are games here and there that are uplifting, and individual accomplishments, like Domonic Brown's hot month and Cole Hamels' good start on Wednesday, that can brighten the darkness..." June 06

SB Nation "The Philadelphia Phillies selected Lakewood (Calif.) High School shortstop J.P. Crawford with the No. 16 pick in the 2013 MLB Amateur Draft. A cousin of Los Angeles outfielder Carl Crawford, J.P. is considered to be one of the better pure shortstop prospects in this year's draft class, with a..." June 06

CSN Philly "There have been a few comparisons regarding Cole Hamels’ rough 2009 season, where he went 10-11 with a 4.32 ERA and bombed during the playoffs a year after he was the MVP of the NLCS and World Series, and the difficult start to the 2013 season. Those comparisons are silly, Hamels says. “In..." June 06

Philly.com "Domonic Brown's 17th home run of the season Monday night against the Miami Marlins drew a little more reaction than usual. The crowd at Citizens Bank Park was thrilled that the hottest hitter in baseball had connected for his ninth homer in 10 games, turning a one-run lead into a three-run..." June 05

Philly.com "DOMONIC BROWN and Ben Revere were never teammates before 2013, but they became off-the-field friends even as on-field foes when they came up through the minor leagues together, Brown in the Phillies' system and Revere in the Minnesota Twins'. In the offseason, before Brown had even solidified..." June 05

Philly.com "CHARLIE MANUEL said the following about home runs on Monday night: "It's a great way of scoring quick." The 69-year-old manager was correct, of course. But there's another thing about home runs, especially when they're hit by the home team in an extra-inning game: They can end the game quick,..." June 05

CSN Philly "Pitching and defense wins ballgames, as the old adage goes. But hitting is contagious. Based on the way Domonic Brown has been swinging the bat over the past month-plus, the Phillies are waiting for a pandemic to break out. Perhaps after the 7-2 victory over the last-place Miami Marlins..." June 04

Foxsports.com "Cliff Lee is performing. His team has a losing record. The trade deadline no longer seems far away. The rumors are starting. It happened in 2009, when he went from Cleveland to Philadelphia. It happened in 2010, when he went from Seattle to Texas. You wonder if Lee is thinking, “Here we go..." June 04

CBSSports.com "Trade speculation is starting, and and it's only natural some are wondering whether the Orioles could have interest in Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo.The Orioles don't seem interested in Matt Garza, and Cliff Lee is out of their price range -- way out -- so it's only natural word is going around that..." June 04

MLB.com "On Monday, Major League Baseball announced that Domonic Brown, continuing to surge at the plate, had slugged his way to a second National League Player of the Week honor in as many weeks and been named the Budweiser NL Player of the Month. In 28 May games, Brown led the NL with 12 home runs and..." June 03

Delaware Online "About two hours before Sunday’s game against Milwaukee, Phillies catching coach Mick Billmeyer scrawled a lineup on the whiteboard outside of the locker room. The list of names did not include Jimmy Rollins. So Rollins walked into Charlie Manuel’s office to chat with the Phillies manager...." June 03

Courier-Post "Michael Martinez strode to the batter’s box with two outs in the ninth inning on a beautiful Saturday in Philadelphia. That act alone embodied every problem the Phillies encountered in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. An inning earlier, Martinez, who probably shouldn’t be in the..." June 02

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "So how is it possible for a baseball team to go an entire month with absolutely no luck and then have a season's worth in two games? Don't ask the Brewers. They'll gratefully take it and move on with their first back-to-back victories since late April. At the very least, their 4-3 victory..." June 02

CSN Philly "Even when it’s supposed to be easy, the Phillies go out of their way to make things difficult. At least that seems to be the go-to move in 2013 for the Phils and it was put into clear evidence during Sunday afternoon’s 7-5 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Citizens Bank Park. With a..." June 02

Delaware Online "Domonic Brown got his promotion in the batting order, and Cesar Hernandez earned his first big league start as the Phillies closed their interleague series with the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night at steamy Citizens Bank Park. Both moves were expected, considering Brown’s recent success at the..." May 31

MLB Trade Rumors "The Phillies announced that they have released 35-year-old right-hander Chad Durbin. In his place, left-hander Joe Savery will be recalled and added to the Major League bullpen. Durbin totaled 16 innings out of Philadelphia's bullpen this season but allowed 16 earned runs on 25 hits and nine..." May 31

Providence Journal "When he was hit by what looked like a purpose pitch in the sixth inning on Thursday, Jacoby Ellsbury took his base -- and then he took second and third base, too. "It definitely lit the fire a little bit," he said with a smile. By the end of the night, Ellsbury was literally taking a base --..." May 31

CSN Philly "Chase Utley hasn’t appeared in a game since May 20 because of a strained right oblique muscle, and he still hasn’t begun to swing a bat. According to Utley, the recovery from the injury has been slow, but he hasn’t placed a timetable on when he will return. “It’s still going to be a fairly slow..." May 31

Philly.com "The Phillies' infielders were mandated to practice at 3:55 p.m. Wednesday, the first day back from a long road trip. Yet another starter was missing when the group reached the Citizens Bank Park grass. Michael Young left the team because of a death in his family. He will miss at least three..." May 30

Philly.com "Domonic Brown's right foot smacked first base as the ball he destroyed disappeared beyond the right-field wall at Citizens Bank Park. He spread his arms and whacked his hands together in one emphatic motion. The fans rose in the eighth inning to celebrate the fourth Phillies home run in a 4-3..." May 30

Philly.com "The Threshers shut out the Brevard County Manatees, 3-0, at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Florida. Recent signing Carlos Zambrano made his first rehab start in the Phillies organization. The right-hander allowed three hits and two walks in 4 1/3 scoreless innings. He struck out two. The..." May 29

Courier-Post "Near the middle of Domonic Brown’s spectacular spring training, he commented one day about how his fastball approach had changed. He had lost some focus on hitting fastballs as he struggled to live up to his blue-chip prospect status. “Now I’m hunting the fastball,” Brown said Feb. 27. After..." May 29

Philly.com "The gate to the visitors' bullpen at Fenway Park opened at 9:31 p.m. Jonathan Papelbon paused there as the noise emanated from right field. He took two steps and jogged onto the field of the 101-year-old stadium. The Dropkick Murphys soundtrack was replaced by boos from people who once idolized..." May 29

Boston Herald "Change is inevitable in the modern-day world of baseball, and that hasn’t been lost on Jonathan Papelbon. When he walked into Fenway Park yesterday, the jersey he sported looked a lot different. His choice of clubhouses was definitely not the same as the one he called home for seven years. Even..." May 28

CSN Philly "Ryan Howard returned to the Phillies' starting lineup Monday night, a day after his sore left knee required him to rest for the third time in eight days Sunday. Howard has some cartilage abnormalities in the knee. A cortisone injection administered last week briefly alleviated the pain Howard..." May 28

Boston Herald "How’s this for encouraging? The Red Sox have been the best team in baseball for all but 11 games this season. They started 20-8. They then endured a skid of 2-9. But after last night’s 9-3 victory over the Phillies, they’ve won 10 of their last 13. Coupled with the Yankees’ loss to the Mets,..." May 28

CSN Philly "If Cole Hamels is feeling frustrated by the lack of support from his teammates, he did a pretty good job masking it after Sunday afternoon’s 6-1 loss to Washington at Nationals Park. Though he was masterful through six innings, trading zero after zero on the scoreboard with Nats ace Stephen..." May 27

Courier-Post "The first Ryan Howard appearance Sunday came in the eighth-inning of a blowout. It was a strange day to sit Howard, though he’s been struggling of late, since Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg is a righty. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said after the game he sat Howard because the first..." May 27

Courier-Post "Cole Hamels looked sharp in his navy blue suit as he talked about his mostly sharp performance 30 minutes after Sunday’s game, five days after he refused to speak to the media following a tough loss in Miami. Hamels didn’t say much. He spoke of how baseball can be a cruel game sometimes, and..." May 27

Washington Post "Throughout this season, these Washington Nationals have displayed a head-scratching inability to get runners home, often having a tough enough time simply getting them on base. For at least one inning on an unusually chilly May night, they exorcised their situational hitting demons. Scuffling..." May 25