Carlos Ruiz

Phillies setup man Mike Adams is listed as day-to-day with back spasms, but he hopes he doesn't have too many more days like Tuesday. Adams said he was hurt Sunday while shagging a fly ball in batting practice. On Tuesday, he tried to test his back by having a catch and did not have favorable results. "I feel better than I felt Tuesday," Adams said Wednesday afternoon after a 10-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Citizens Bank Park. "Yesterday I felt horrible. " He said he received an injection to try to loosen the muscle in an attempt to recover quicker.

PHOENIX - The Phillies won but Charlie Manuel was distracted. He uncapped a blue marker and doodled on his worn lineup card late Saturday night in the desert. He never lifted his head when asked about his hitters' finally executing in key situations to snap a three-game losing skid. The 69-year-old manager mumbled. He repeated a message heard so frequently in the last 13 months, and his plodding tone suggested that even Manuel had doubts about it. "We don't need to get down and everything," Manuel said.

SAN FRANCISCO - Carlos Ruiz took part in his daily pregame routine during batting practice at AT&T Park yesterday. He fielded ground balls at third base alongside Michael Young. But for the second time in the last five games, Ruiz did not start behind the plate when the Phillies took the field later in the night to take on the San Francisco Giants. Erik Kratz started at catcher in place of Ruiz, who is hitting .100 (2-for-20) since returning from his 25-game suspension. Over the weekend, Ruiz said he's still attempting to get into a comfort zone at the plate after his near monthlong absence.

A night after Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee suggested the team needed to show more pride, manager Charlie Manuel said the team has been proud but not productive enough. The Phillies lost two games in Cleveland by a combined 20-2 score. Lee was the losing pitcher in Wednesday's 6-0 defeat. Afterward, Lee talked about how the Phillies were pummeled in both games. "We have to have a little more pride than that and figure out a way to at least get back into the game and make it somewhat competitive," Lee said.

CLEVELAND - Cliff Lee arrived for the first time as a visiting player in the city where he forged one of the best lefthanded arms in the game. He gazed at an empty Progressive Field, a building he had not seen in four years, since the Indians dealt him to Philadelphia, and shrugged. "I was expecting it to be different," Lee said, "but it looks a lot the same. " That drum in the left-field bleachers was still there. A man pounded it and pounded it Wednesday night during the early innings of a 6-0 Phillies defeat.

IF BEN REVERE was hitting .300 and doing the types of things the Phillies envisioned when they acquired him from the Twins, he might have started in centerfield last night against the Marlins. But the diminutive speedster was hitting .204 with a .471 OPS that ranked ahead of only Adam LaRoche among qualified batters in the National League. On top of that, he had jammed a finger sliding into second base during the third inning of the Phillies' 6-0 loss to the Indians on Wednesday.

CLEVELAND - Roy Halladay sat alone on the dugout bench at Progressive Field. He placed his glove and cap there before whipping a white towel through the air to his sweat-soaked face. He crawled into his puffy jacket, put his hand on his chin, and sulked in the fourth inning of a 14-2 Phillies loss to the Indians. Eleven of the 21 batters he saw Tuesday reached base. Eight of them scored. Three of them hit two-run homers. "The best thing about that was we got through it," Charlie Manuel said.

NEW YORK - Suddenly, the idea of the Phillies being a player in this summer's National League playoff race doesn't seem as far-fetched as it did, oh, Friday afternoon. With one game remaining in April, Chooch back behind the plate and the reclaimed Roy Halladay set to pitch tomorrow night, the Phillies could finish the month just a game under .500 and possibly tied with the Washington Nationals. Yeah, sure, it's too early for that kind of scoreboard watching, and yeah, sure, the team they swept over the weekend was the New York Mets, not the Nats and not the Braves.

NEW YORK - Here's a question: If Carlos Ruiz ever becomes unpopular with fans, how will he know? For example, when that familiar "Oooo" sound emanated from the Citi Field stands as Chooch walked to the plate for the first time yesterday afternoon, can we be certain it came entirely from the large Phillies contingent of the 28,990 attendees, and not some real boos from Mets fans? Yeah, we can. Because right now, at least, Ruiz is far more of a local hero than an opposition villain, even after a 2012 season in which he hit .325 with 16 home runs and 68 runs batted in, in just 114 games.

NEW YORK - Before Ryan Howard smashed a dramatic double, before Chase Utley added another run, before Jimmy Rollins and Laynce Nix touched off the winning rally with two singles, John Buck could not catch a foul pop Sunday. It floated toward the Phillies dugout at Citi Field. Buck ripped off his catcher's mask and looked to the sky. The ball nicked his glove; Nix's at-bat continued. There were two outs in the seventh inning of a 5-1 Phillies win, and Buck could have prevented chaos.