"We couldn't talk to him. The guides had to talk to him. They were speaking Portuguese. He had been attacked by a snake [apparently an anaconda] and escaped, but it had ripped the engine off the boat and left all his stuff out in the middle of the river. So we picked up his stuff and drove him back to his tribe, I guess you would call it.
"What he was doing is, he had nets underwater because he was diving for aquarium fish. When he was diving for the fish, the snake bit him on the backside and started wrapping him and when he was getting away from it, it pulled the shorts off him. So he swam to the banks and I guess the next-closest thing for the snake to grab was the boat engine.
"By far I've told that story more than any other story I've ever had. And I've got the guys I went fishing with to thank for leaking it."
Phillers
Jose Contreras threw off a mound for the first time since he had elbow surgery in September. The 40-year-old righthander threw his fastball and forkball. "He threw very, very well," pitching coach Rich Dubee said . . . Righthander Justin De Fratus (elbow) is beginning to throw off flat ground as he attempts to shake off a bout of soreness and catch up to the other pitchers in camp . . . Ryan Howard (Achilles') continues to do light jogging and fielding work . . . Roy Halladay said his point of emphasis this spring is his cutter, which he felt was less consistent than usual last season.
