Charlie Manuel

BOSTON - Ryan Howard has promised this much: If his left knee hurts, he will tell his bosses. And while the pain may prevent him from playing on some days, he wants to avoid the disabled list. Howard said his knee hurt Monday. But he decided he could play after sitting Sunday. So Charlie Manuel inserted him into the Phillies lineup. "You play hurt, you play injured to the best of your ability," Howard said. "Guys go out and play hurt, play injured. That's the part of your competitive nature.

BOSTON - The fans called for Charlie Manuel, and the 69-year-old Phillies manager obliged. He signed some autographs and posed for a photo Monday on the Fenway Park dirt. He sauntered back toward the Phillies dugout until two young ladies cooed. For the next 10 minutes, Manuel greeted a procession of people who received a surprise attraction during their stadium tour. "You look much younger than you do on TV," one woman told him. A boy walked past and said to his father, "Charlie is so tall.

WASHINGTON - Cole Hamels carried his smartphone in his pitching hand and pulled a small black suitcase with his other. He walked a straight line in the basement at Nationals Park until he playfully swayed the bag back and forth. It was 5 p.m. Sunday, the day Hamels lost for the eighth time in 11 starts, and this was his way of relaxing. Once again, the Phillies did not score for him in a 6-1 loss. Hamels last pitched with a lead 49 days ago. No pitcher in baseball is saddled with more losses than the $144 million ace. Hamels, the face of a disappointing Phillies season almost one-third completed, refuses to admit frustration.

WASHINGTON - Chase Utley believed it was prudent to inform the Phillies moments after pain shot through his right side during batting practice Tuesday. Rather than play through it, an idea a twenty-something Utley might have embraced, Utley was confident in his caution. His diagnosis Thursday of a "very mild" oblique strain reaffirmed that decision. Utley will miss at least two weeks and Phillies officials are optimistic that is all. Utley, while describing his injury as the "best-case scenario," is taking a more conservative view.

WASHINGTON - Kyle Kendrick concluded it was needless to back up home plate. He watched Steve Lombardozzi's double skip to the warning track in the fifth inning of a 5-2 Phillies loss. Two Nationals scampered around the bases as Kendrick gazed. He blew on his right hand and lowered his head when the ball, at last, returned to the infield. The inning should have never reached this point, and it was a moment for Kendrick to lament that fact. The Phillies squandered a bases-loaded chance in the top of the fifth.

MIAMI - On the day Roy Halladay told the world he would need shoulder surgery, the Phillies lost to the San Francisco Giants. It was the first of three straight defeats. Things haven't necessarily gotten any easier lately. Carlos Ruiz also was placed on the disabled list and could be out for another month. Ryan Howard needed an MRI for a pesky left knee injury and Chase Utley will get his own MRI today on a rib cage injury that may punch him a ticket for a trip to the DL. Despite the sky falling around them in the last 2 weeks, the Phillies, remarkably, have come to life.

MIAMI - When morale was at its lowest, approximately 46 hours before Delmon Young smashed yet another home run, Charlie Manuel attempted to justify his faith in this Phillies lineup. It was Monday, the atrocious Miami Marlins had just confounded his offense, and Manuel clutched at words. "The history of Delmon Young," the manager said, "is he's a better hitter than what he's showing right now. " The Phillies departed Florida on Wednesday night with a series victory, and Young was a principal player.

Before Chase Utley took a swing during batting practice in Miami and pain shot through his rib cage, Charlie Manuel advised Freddy Galvis to rehearse patience. "He's going to be an everyday guy in the big leagues," Manuel said. "It's just a matter of time. " The Phillies manager said that one day before Utley was hurt. He did not want Galvis ascending to the lineup in this fashion. Utley was placed on the 15-day disabled list with what the team called "a very mild oblique injury.

MIAMI - Chase Utley took his first swing in batting practice Tuesday and it did not feel right. He took a second hack, then another, and one more. That is when he went to Charlie Manuel and told the manager his right side hurt. "It definitely scared me a little bit," Utley said Wednesday. Depending on what an MRI examination shows Thursday in Philadelphia, the Phillies could be without their second baseman and top offensive performer for the foreseeable future. Utley and team officials would not speculate on whether his rib-cage injury will require a stint on the disabled list, but they all prepared for that reality.

MIAMI - Among the items littered on the desk in the visiting manager's office at Marlins Park: three packages of Tylenol and a can of Sierra Mist. The cold beverage was open, a refreshing treat for a pleasant night at the ballpark. The pain medication, however, was unopened. Apparently it wasn't a necessity for Charlie Manuel following a rarity of a game for his team in 2013: a stress-free victory. The manager and a legion of heartburn-heavy Phillies' fans got a rare treat last night, when Ryan Howard returned to the lineup and led his team to a 7-3 win over Miami.