Billy Wagner

BILLY WAGNER is dead to me. Dramatic? Perhaps. But no one ever accused Phillies fans of being dispassionate. It's not in our nature. Last season, I developed a conditioned response to the sound of "Enter Sandman. " With it, I knew I'd likely soon be hearing Scott Graham say, "Put this one in the win column for the Fightin' Phils. " Now, I can barely listen to it. (Coincidently, I've been a big Queen fan since high school and have grown a new appreciation for their song "Flash.

Billy Wagner said nothing would change his mind. Absolutely nothing. No matter how many saves he nails down for the Atlanta Braves, no matter how good his surgically repaired left arm feels at the end of the season, this year is his last go-around in the majors. "I'm done. Yeah, I'm done," Wagner said with conviction before the Braves closed out a three-game series with the Phillies with a 7-5 win Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park. "It doesn't matter how I'm pitching. This is it. " Earlier this season, Wagner, who will turn 39 later this month, announced this was his final season.

Every time Minnesota Twins designated hitter Matthew LeCroy fouled off a pitch, Phillies catcher Todd Pratt offered his congratulations. Fight a few 98 m.p.h. fastballs and nasty sliders, and it seems kind words are in order. "You're awesome," Pratt told LeCroy in the batter's box. The Twins had the tying run on second base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning when Phillies closer Billy Wagner and LeCroy squared off in a 13-pitch battle. But LeCroy eventually struck out to hand the Phillies a 2-1 victory yesterday afternoon at the Metrodome.

The ninth inning is Billy Wagner's, and nobody out there can help him. That's OK. One of baseball's top closers learned a long time ago to rely on himself. "If other people let you down, you feel miserable," Wagner said. "So I don't put a lot of hope into other people. I just always put it in my mind that I'll do what I can to succeed. If I do, great. If I don't, I'm no worse for wear. " Phillies fans should love Wagner, and not only because he is the sure-thing closer they desperately have craved.

To hear Billy Wagner tell it, the Phillies' biggest hurdle this season won't be the Mets, Braves or Marlins. It will be you - the fans. "The Phillies have the best team," Wagner said at Mets camp the other day. "But there's a lot of pressure playing in Philly. "It's just a tough environment. Nothing is close. That team's biggest challenge will be playing at home. Their personnel is great, but it's a tough city to play in. They can't get off to a bad start. " The implication seemed clear: Wagner believes fans will bury the Phillies if they get off to a bad start.

The music blares and the crowd roars as the bullpen door opens. It's the top of the ninth inning at Citizens Bank Park. It's time for Billy Wagner. The Phillies announced yesterday that they had acquired Wagner, a hard-throwing lefthanded closer, from the Houston Astros for righthander Brandon Duckworth and minor-league pitching prospects Taylor Buchholz and Ezequiel Astacio. The move takes care of the Phillies' No. 1 goal this off-season, which was to solidify the bullpen with a top-notch closer.

1. Chipper Jones          2. Jamie Moyer 3. Jim Thome             4. Billy Wagner

MOOSIC, Pa. - Carlos Carrasco struck out eight in six innings and gave up only one earned run, but the Lehigh Valley IronPigs fell, 2-1, to the Scranton Yankees in the International League last night. Carrasco, who is 1-1 since being promoted from double-A Reading, has a 0.48 ERA for Lehigh Valley. Binghamton 9, Reading 1 BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - Mike Carp went 3 for 4 with two doubles, a homer and three RBIs to lead the Mets past the Phillies in the Eastern League. New York Mets closer Billy Wagner, on the disabled list with a strained left forearm, worked the seventh inning on a rehabilitation assignment.

Stolen bases helped the Phillies win two of four games in their recent sweep of the Mets. On Tuesday, Shane Victorino stole second in the eighth inning, went to third on the resulting throwing error by Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca, and scored the tying run on Aaron Rowand 's infield hit. On Thursday, Jayson Werth and Tadahito Iguchi combined for three stolen bases in the ninth inning against Billy Wagner . Werth scored the tying run...

CONGRATULATIONS to Ed Wade for surprising every Phillies fan in the Delaware Valley by obtaining Billy Wagner from the Astros. You always take a risk when you trade young pitchers - remember the 1965 deal that sent future Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins to the Cubs? Tom O'Neill, Philadelphia Neutering the fans At the Linc, Jeff Lurie is trying to remold the fans into the stuffed-shirt, stodgy, bottled-water sippers he sees as the perfect fan. They sit there with little emotion watching a game while taking and making cell phone calls.

Third in a series YOU ALMOST have to feel sorry for the Mets. Almost. Remember the Mets that stole Tom Glavine from the Phillies in 2002? The Mets that snatched Billy Wagner in 2006? Remember how former Expos genius Omar Minaya and Yankees royalty Willie Randolph were going to unseat the Braves for the next 2 decades? Remember Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado and Francisco Rodriguez? All gone. They couldn't even afford to retain one of their own best players in decades: Shortstop Jose Reyes never was likely to extend with the Mets, and now he's a . . . Marlin?

Ryan Madson's future with the Phillies is once again in question after a deal that was in the works with his agent Scott Boras stalled before it reached the all-important signature stage. A baseball source said Wednesday that the Phillies closer was ready to sign a four-year, $44 million deal with a fifth-year option at $13 million. But before it could be completed general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. needed to seek approval from team president David Montgomery. The source indicated that the deal was still on the table awaiting Montgomery's approval.

No. 2 is No. 1 in jersey sales He may be fighting for his leadoff spot in Joe Girardi's lineup, but Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter still sells more replica jerseys that anyone in Major League Baseball. Twins catcher Joe Mauer, winner of three AL batting titles, is second. Then came a Philadelphia Murderer's Row: Roy Halladay, Chase Utley, and Cliff Lee. Ryan Howard was 18th. No other team had four players in the 20 best-sellers. To no one's surprise, the media darling Yankees and Red Sox were the top licensed merchandise sellers in 2010.

Phils give honest answer to cabbie CINCINNATI - Sometimes you get lucky. The most obvious question for any Phillies player or front-office official after Sunday's sweep of the Cincinnati Reds was this: Whom do you want to play in the National League Championship Series? Coming from a reporter, that question will always get the same dishonest answer: "Oh, it doesn't matter to us. They're both fine teams. " Apparently when a taxicab driver asks that question, he's far more likely to get an honest answer.

7:05 p.m., Citizens Bank Park. TV: Comcast SportsNet. Radio: WPHT (1210-AM); WUBA (1480-AM) Spanish TONIGHT'S PITCHERS RHP Roy Halladay (19-10, 2.49) vs. LHP Mike Minor (3-1, 5.64) WHO'S HOT Shane Victorino: The once-struggling center fielder has pushed his average to .265 and is three stolen bases shy of tying his career-high of 37. WHO'S NOT Roy Halladay: The veteran righthander has allowed at least three earned runs in each of his last five starts. He allowed 10 hits and three runs in his most recent outing, a 10-5 win in Floriday.

NEW YORK - As the Phillies played the final two innings of their game Sunday at Citizens Bank Park, the Atlanta Braves confidently checked out of the visiting clubhouse at Citi Field. The Braves had every reason to feel good as they prepared for their bus ride down the New Jersey Turnpike on their way to Philadelphia, where Monday night they'll begin the franchise's biggest September series in five years against the Phillies. Having completed a three-game weekend sweep of the New York Mets with a 6-3 win that came courtesy of a Derrek Lee grand slam in the top of the seventh inning, the Braves gathered some road momentum, a rarity for a team that is 34-41 away from Turner Field this season.

NEW YORK - Three-run lead for the Braves in the every-game-is-crucial portion of the schedule, bottom of the ninth at Citi Field. It was precisely the situation Billy Wagner is on the roster for, now more than ever, when the slightest slip can make the difference between making the playoffs and going home. So manager Bobby Cox went to the bullpen and called for ... rookie Craig Kimbrel. It worked, too. Three strikeouts later, sandwiched around a weak infield hit, the Braves were back in the clubhouse after a sweep of the woeful Mets and preparing to travel down the New Jersey Turnpike for a showdown series against the Phillies beginning tonight.

NEW YORK - As the Phillies played the final two innings of their game today at Citizens Bank Park, the Atlanta Braves confidently checked out of the visiting clubhouse at Citi Field. The Braves had every reason to feel good as they prepared for their bus ride down the New Jersey Turnpike on their way to Philadelphia, where Monday night they'll begin the franchise's biggest September series in five years against the Phillies. Having completed a three-game weekend sweep of the New York Mets with a 6-3 win that came courtesy of a Derek Lee grand slam in the top of the seventh inning, the Braves gathered some road momentum, a rarity for a team that is 34-41 away from Turner Field this season.

IF THE SEASON ended today, as the saying goes, the Phillies would make the playoffs for the fourth straight year. Except, of course, the season doesn't end today. Instead, September begins. It's the unofficial start of the stretch drive and little is guaranteed. Over the past three seasons, four of 12 National League teams that would have been in had the season ended on the last day of August found themselves on the outside looking in when the real playoffs started in October: The Mets disappeared in both 2007 and 2008, the Diamondbacks were knocked out in 2008 and the Padres were eliminated in 2007.

Catcher Carlos Ruiz, a native of Panama, is currently the only member of the Phillies' major-league roster who was an international signing. That does not mean the Phillies' international scouting department has been a failure, but a baseball source indicated that the organization has not pumped as much money into its international program in recent years. The source said that could eventually hurt the Phillies at the big-league level. "They're probably in the bottom third," the source said.