Big Leagues

IT IS A MISTY Sunday morning at Campbell's Field, where the last hopes of professional baseball linger like the morning fog. Down the Delaware River, one bridge and two quick train stops away, Pedro Feliz was king. Just three seasons ago, his bat won the Phillies a World Series. It was Feliz who, in Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, delivered the game-winning, groundball single up the middle in the seventh inning off Chad Bradford. The hit scored Eric Bruntlett from third base and gave the Phillies a 4-3 lead, which, famously, the bullpen preserved.

WASHINGTON - The overspecialized, travel-teamed, AAU-ification of sports is our current American reality. Seeing as how the players have never been better, in everything, it is hard to argue with the results. At the same time, though, it seems almost quaint to hear Wilson Valdez tell his story. It is so different. He grew up in the Dominican Republic, in a placed called Nizao. "We were really poor," he said. "We were glad we had something to eat every day. That was the only thing that mattered, that we had something to eat. " Valdez, sitting in a major league clubhouse, talked easily about how he appreciates the contrast from then to now. He continues to fill in for Chase Utley at second base for the Phillies.

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Six years ago they were on the same distinguished list as Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels, minor-league stars on the verge of breaking into the big leagues. When Baseball America published its 2005 top 100 prospects, Dan Meyer, Josh Barfield and Brandon Moss were right there with Howard and Hamels. Meyer, a pitcher out of Kingsway High School in South Jersey, ranked 43d, 16 spots behind Howard. Barfield, an infielder whose father Jesse played 12 seasons with Toronto and the New York Yankees, was two spots behind Meyer at 45. Moss, an eighth-round pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2002, ranked one spot behind Hamels at No. 73. Now, Meyer, Barfield and Moss are non-roster invitees, long shots looking to make the Phillies' opening-day roster.

LAKELAND, Fla. - There's always more than one way to look at things. So while Kyle Kendrick pitched three impressive innings in his first Grapefruit League start and seems to have a firm grip on a spot in the bullpen, the old baseball disclaimer buzzes in the background: You never know. Kendrick allowed just one baserunner, a single by leftfielder Andy Dirks. So far this spring, he's totaled five shutout innings. The Phillies' split squad ended up losing, 2-1, to the Tigers at Marchant Stadium.

It was his first real get-acquainted session with Carlos "Chooch" Ruiz, Roy Halladay said, as the catcher drove the pitcher to a spring-training game, crossing from Clearwater, Fla., to Tampa for a game with the Yankees on March 26. They didn't bond over music or food, nothing superficial. Halladay is a serious guy. That ride told the new Phillies star he'd be pitching to a serious catcher. "Just got to talk a little bit," Halladay said on Friday, two days after pitching his no-hitter in Game 1 of the National League division series, "and that's when I realized how much pride he took in catching.

The little guys are growing. The Bicentennial Athletic League, home for Class AA and A (smaller) football teams in District 1, grows by three teams this season. The coaches around the league couldn't be happier. It not only makes scheduling easier, but also reduces any long trips the teams had been taking to find opponents. Longtime league member New Hope-Solebury, Delaware County Christian and Springfield (Montco) are the newcomers in football. The Lions fielded a varsity team for the first time last season and played an independent schedule, including games against four league members.

Vance Worley struck out two of the three batters he faced and pitched a perfect ninth inning for the Phillies in his major-league debut Saturday at Citizens Bank Park. When the 22-year-old righthander's work was done, he shook hands with his teammates and catcher Brian Schneider handed him the baseball as a keepsake. Then he went inside the air-conditioned clubhouse and learned he was being optioned back to the minor leagues to make room on the roster for J.A. Happ , who will start Sunday against the Colorado Rockies.

1. Now. He's ready for the big leagues. 2. Soon. The Phils might need outfield help. 3. Later. September sounds right.

Baseball Stars of the 1970s and 1980s Talk About the Game They Loved By Fay Vincent Simon & Schuster. 301 pp. $25 Reviewed by Allen Barra It's What's Inside the Lines That Counts is the fourth book by former Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent - and his best. Volume three of The Baseball Oral History Project , done in conjunction with the Baseball Hall of Fame, the book offers an exciting mix of former players, managers, and even an umpire, Bruce Froemming, and a labor leader, Marvin Miller.

Andrew Bailey of the Oakland A's, a relative unknown at the beginning of the season, capped a whirlwind year yesterday by being named the American League's rookie of the year. The pitcher, a 2002 graduate of Paul VI High School in Camden County, received 13 of 28 first-place votes for 88 points in the balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus was second with 65 points. For someone not expected to make the team coming out of spring training, Bailey, 25, had quite a year.