Adam Eaton

He's all yours, Baltimore. Lotsa luck. Adam Eaton, the righthander the Phillies couldn't trade so they released him, agreed to a minor league contract with the Orioles and will join the team's major league spring-training camp in Viera, Fla. Eaton, 31, was released by the Phillies on Friday after going 4-8 with a 5.80 ERA in 21 games last season in the second year of a 3-year, $24.5 million contract. The Orioles have three spots in their starting rotation up for grabs behind righthanders Jeremy Guthrie and Koji Uehara.

Adam Eaton found little consolation in his line score yesterday at Great American Ball Park. "We lost," said Eaton, who allowed three runs in 7 2/3 innings in a 4-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. "But you want to give your team a chance to win, and I was able to do that. I'm kind of angry with myself the way I came out, but I got into a good groove and made some good pitches. " Ryan Howard crushed a solo home run to center field in the eighth inning to hand the Phillies a 3-2 lead, but Eaton elevated a pitch to Corey Patterson with two outs in the eighth, and Patterson homered to left-center field to tie it. The Reds scored a run in the ninth after Chad Durbin walked the first two batters he faced.

The Phillies should keep their fingers crossed and hope Adam Eaton's middle finger is OK. They gave the righthander, who missed time the last two seasons with an injured tendon in the middle finger of his pitching hand, an extensive physical yesterday in Philadelphia. They want to make sure that he is worth the millions they are about to pay him and that he won't break down with another injury. If he passes, the Phillies could announce today that he has signed a three-year, $24 million contract.

The tank felt full to Adam Eaton. He had thrown 91 pitches through six innings in yesterday's 7-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers at Citizens Bank Park, and he wanted to finish the seventh. He had allowed just one run to help the Phillies to a two-run lead. He had allowed four hits. He had outperformed Tigers righthander Justin Verlander, who had thrown a no-hitter Tuesday against the Milwaukee Brewers. "You like to win those games because you know you only have nine outs left to get," Eaton said.

The race for the fifth spot in the Phillies' starting pitching rotation hasn't exactly been a scintillating competition. While incumbent Adam Eaton, he of the 15.75 spring ERA, spent yesterday getting an MRI and a CT scan on his ailing lower back, another candidate, lefty Travis Blackley, was getting shelled for five runs in 1 2/3 innings by the Cleveland Indians in Winter Haven, Fla. Competition for the job also includes the Durbin boys,...

Phillies officials were focused on the National League division series and keeping their first trip to the postseason in 14 years alive last night. Soon, though, the organization's focus will shift to trying to successfully defend the NL East championship. There is work to be done this off-season. The Phillies need more offense out of the third-base position and improvements in the starting rotation and bullpen. The free-agent pool of starting pitchers is thin, and the trade market is always unpredictable.

The Phillies selected hard-throwing righthander Adam Eaton, whom they described as a potential No. 1 or No. 2 starter, in the first round of yesterday's major-league amateur baseball draft. Eaton, a 6-foot-2, 185-pounder from Snohomish High School in Washington State, has terrific statistics and a fastball that would make most major-leaguers envious. Still, the Phillies haven't had much success when drafting high school pitchers in the first round. Since the draft started in 1965, only two of the 11 high school pitchers the Phils have chosen in the first round have had more than a cameo appearance in the majors - Larry Christenson and Pete Smith.

It took 81 days, a heap of aggravation and, ultimately, the highest bonus the Phillies ever have handed out to an amateur player. But finally, last night, they reached agreement with their No. 1 draft pick, pitcher Adam Eaton. Eaton's agent, Adam Katz, and Phillies general manager Lee Thomas struck the deal last night, two days before Eaton was scheduled to start school at Washington State. The Phillies announced that Eaton received a $1.1 million signing bonus - $400,000 more than they gave last year's No. 1 pick, outfielder Reggie Taylor.

Pat Burrell couldn't believe his luck. The Phillies leftfielder strained his lower back on a swing during batting practice yesterday at Citizens Bank Park, which put in doubt his status for Game 1 of the National League division series against Milwaukee. But after Burrell took batting practice before today's game, he was cleared to play. He worked an important two-out walk in the third inning to load the bases. Brewers righthander Yovani Gallardo then walked Shane Victorino on five pitches to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead.

Tonight at 7:05 Houston RHP Chris Sampson (2-0, 1.20 ERA) vs. RHP Adam Eaton (1-1, 6.62).

Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones choked up a bit and delivered the news that's been looming for years: It's time to call it a career. This time, he means it. With his 40th birthday approaching and a long string of injuries slowing him down, Jones announced Thursday that he will retire at season's end. "I have fulfilled everything," Jones, flanked by his family and teammates, said during a news conference at the Braves' training camp...

PAT GILLICK is not working for the Cubs and he's not with the Dodgers, either. There was a report that he went to the Dominican Republic last month to meet with Aramis Ramirez and to Cuba to scout Yeonnis Cespedes - which means, if you're any kind of student of the man, that he is still an important part of the Phillies' brain trust. So fret not over Dontrelle Willis, whose late-day tweet - "I'm fired up be with the fighting phillies and looking forward to this season" - confirmed his status as the newest Phillies free-agent signee, pending a physical scheduled for today.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - At times they looked bemused, at times they looked defiant. Atop a platform, in front of a horde of media, the four starters surveyed the hyperbole that their unification had sprung. As the video rolled and the cameras flashed, they reminded the viewing public that they had yet to throw a pitch, that they had yet to play a game, that they had yet to reach the legendary status that everyone seems so eager to bestow. But most striking of all were the occasions when they reminded the viewing public about starter No. 5. First came Cole Hamels, who was informed by a reporter that he was the only pitcher in the news conference who owned a World Series ring.

It is here. Finally. The most eagerly anticipated ride in the history of Philadelphia sports starts now, as the 2011 Phillies start reporting to work (officially) in Clearwater, Fla. Never has a Philly team begun its season with as much positive energy and pure enthusiasm as this one. If there's a trace of our historic sense of impending doom, good luck finding it. The city Murphy surely had in mind when formulating his infamous Law is all in with this club to an unprecedented degree.

The Phillies kicked off the most successful epoch in their largely undistinguished franchise history by winning the National League East title in 2007. Return with us now to those glorious days of yesteryear when the projected starters going into spring training were ... Brett Myers, Freddy Garcia, Jon Lieber, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer and Adam Eaton. This didn't exactly move the baseball poets to compose paeans celebrating what was in store. Rightly, as it turned out. Myers became the closer at midseason.

San Francisco's Cody Ross owns the Phillies. He hit his third homer of the NLCS Sunday night against Roy Oswalt in the fifth inning to break up his shot at a no-hitter. On Saturday, Ross hit two homers off Roy Halladay, also breaking up his postseason no-hit streak over two games. Ross' 16 career homers against the Phillies are the most he's hit against any team. Here are the other Phillies he has taken deep: Cole Hamels, 4 HRs Jamie Moyer, 2 HRs Adam Eaton, 2 HRs Joe Blanton, 1 HR Antonio Alfonseca, 1 HR J.C. Romero, 1 HR J.A. Happ, 1 HR Brett Myers, 1 HR

Welcome back to Summertime Talkin', where the lineup changes but the entertainment remains remarkably consistent. Fitzpatrick is off researching a "Where are they now?" piece on the 1912 Phillies. Gonzo will be along shortly, but he is moving this week and it just dawned on him that moving involves such things as packing. This may be the most important week of the season for the Phillies. The past couple of years, they were able to pull off a midseason trade for a pitcher who won games in the postseason.

While wondering how long until the Postal Service honors Page 2, it's time to empty out the mailbag:   - Chris   Chris, My apologies. You're right. That was a gross oversight. I've checked with the United States Postal Service and it is, in fact, planning an Eaton stamp. Here's a preview: "Philadelphia has a long tradition of bold athletes who have done completely unexpected things. With this Adam Eaton stamp, the USPS honors just that sort of man. The portrait shows Eaton at Citizens Bank Park during the Phillies championship ring ceremony (even though Eaton was left off the World Series roster after pitching so poorly during his second stint in town that the Phils were forced to release him)

First-round draft picks are tricky. LeBron James worked out. Kwame Brown didn't. That's the way it goes. For every Peyton Manning there's a Todd Marinovich. Yesterday, the Washington Nationals took San Diego State phenom Stephen Strasburg with the first pick in the Major League Baseball draft. Considering everything that's been written about the hard-throwing righty, Strasburg is destined to do great things and win many awards. Unless, of course, he doesn't. Many years ago, the Yankees drafted Brien Taylor, a pitcher with as much hype as Strasburg.

WHEN IT all went kerflooey for Brett Myers in the first half of last season, the Phillies crafted what turned out to be an inspired solution. They convinced the headstrong righthander that a brief tour of their minor league system was just what he needed. And it turned out they were right. It's hard to imagine that would help Jamie Moyer, though. He relies on pinpoint location and hitters down there swing at just about anything. So do the Florida Marlins, which helps explain his career domination of the Fish.