Cliff Politte

Perhaps they were inspired by the emotional pregame festivities honoring the Phillies' 1980 World Series champions. Perhaps they were inspired by the sight of Terry Mulholland. Or perhaps it was just that the Phillies' moribund offense was bound to awaken. Whatever the reason, the Phils erupted for 16 hits - seven for extra bases - as they pounded the first-place Atlanta Braves last night, 9-3, before 37,292 fans at Veterans Stadium. "Seeing the ceremony pumped up the players, and it carried into the game," winning pitcher Cliff Politte said.

This wasn't just the Phillies against the Houston Astros. This was Amaury Telemaco vs. Cliff Politte. This was the real start to the competition for the final spot in the Phillies' starting rotation. "I'm going to pitch them on the same day for the rest of the way and see what happens," manager Larry Bowa said before both men went to the mound yesterday at Osceola County Stadium. Nothing became clear on this cloudy afternoon. Telemaco, making his first start and first extended appearance in a Grapefruit League game, opened the battle with five sensational innings.

Week after week, the losses kept mounting for the Phillies, and yet there never seemed to be any separation between themselves and the fourth-place Montreal Expos. At one point, in fact, the Phillies lost nine of 13 games and still managed to gain enough ground on the Expos to move into fourth place. Even after a 2-7 road trip in which the Phillies averaged 2.1 runs per game, the team with the worst record in baseball showed up at Veterans Stadium last night a doubleheader sweep away from reclaiming fourth place in the NL East.

The Phillies have 59 players in camp. They all showed up for the first full-squad workout yesterday. That doesn't mean that somebody who wasn't at the Carpenter Complex won't be on the roster when the season opens in Atlanta on March 5, though. General manager Ed Wade was asked if he would be surprised if the Phillies didn't make a trade of some sort before breaking camp. "I guess I'd be a little surprised, but not necessarily disappointed," he said. Wade has worked the phones all offseason looking for additional pitching and will continue to keep his eyes open.

One of the first concerns the Phillies had after losing shortstop Desi Relaford for the season following wrist surgery wasn't necessarily how it affected their lineup. "I'll sleep a lot better knowing we have Alex Arias to take his place," manager Terry Francona said at the time. The bigger worry was not having Arias to bring off the bench. General manager Ed Wade moved to ease that worry yesterday by acquiring 30-year-old shortstop Domingo Cedeno from the Seattle Mariners' Triple A Tacoma roster for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre shortstop Jose Flores.

Being the Phillies means you don't address your needs in the same way as the Yankees, say, or the Braves or Red Sox or Orioles. Being the Phillies generally means trading a quarter for two dimes and a nickel, taking a few bucks out of one pocket and putting them into the other, robbing Peter to pay Paul. Shifting resources, in the corporate lingo that has become baseball's second language in recent years. General manager Ed Wade concluded a furious fortnight of activity yesterday with the announcement that the five-player trade with the St. Louis Cardinals that had been reported for nearly a week had finally been completed.

A positive amid the Phillies' misery yesterday wasn't that hard to find. Rookie outfielder Jason Michaels made the most of his first major-league start, collecting two hits, including his first major-league home run, during his team's 9-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at frigid PNC Park. In addition to his work at the plate, Michaels nailed Adrian Brown trying to score on a single by Brian Giles in the bottom of the third inning. Michaels, playing center field in place of Doug Glanville, made a perfect throw to catcher Mike Lieberthal.

The Chicago Cubs beat the Phillies, 8-2, last night at Veterans Stadium. Now that we've gotten this mundane fact out of the way, let's get right to what people really care about. With the only pitch he made contact on all night, Sammy Sosa clubbed his 62d home run of the season with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. The two-run homer, a first-pitch laser into the left-field seats off Phillies reliever Anthony Shumaker, moved Sosa ahead of Mark McGwire for the major-league lead.

An important face will be missing when manager Terry Francona puts the Phillies through the paces for the first full-squad workout of the spring today at the Carpenter Complex. Rightfielder Bobby Abreu, who finished third in the National League with a .335 batting average, isn't scheduled to fly to Florida from his native Venezuela until tomorrow and may not practice with the team until Friday. According to team officials, he will be detained because his mother has been ill. Abreu, who turns 26 next month, avoided arbitration by signing a three-year, $14.25 million contract in January.

Dan Plesac became the final Phillies pitcher to record an out at Veterans Stadium in September when he struck out Atlanta's Ryan Langerhans. Plesac called it the perfect ending to an 18-year career. "When I got that last strikeout and walked off the mound, it was like emotion city," he said last night. "I never had tears before in a game, win or lose. It just grabbed me. " The 41-year-old reliever informed the Phillies yesterday that he was retiring. Plesac, who toyed with retirement last year, went 2-1 with a 2.70 earned run average in 58 appearances last season, and would have been one of seven pitchers in the Phillies' bullpen in 2004.

No one was happier than Tadahito Iguchi when he put an end to a pre-All-Star break marathon. Iguchi's bases-loaded single in the 19th inning sent the Chicago White Sox to a 6-5 win over visiting Boston yesterday in a 6-hour, 19-minute game that began in sunshine and ended under the lights at U.S. Cellular Field. The teams used eight pitchers each and combined to throw 570 pitches. Bothered by a sprained ankle, Iguchi looked a bit weary as his teammates mobbed him near the first-base line after the White Sox avoided a three-game sweep in the matchup of the last two World Series winners.

Dan Plesac became the final Phillies pitcher to record an out at Veterans Stadium in September when he struck out Atlanta's Ryan Langerhans. Plesac called it the perfect ending to an 18-year career. "When I got that last strikeout and walked off the mound, it was like emotion city," he said last night. "I never had tears before in a game, win or lose. It just grabbed me. " The 41-year-old reliever informed the Phillies yesterday that he was retiring. Plesac, who toyed with retirement last year, went 2-1 with a 2.70 earned run average in 58 appearances last season, and would have been one of seven pitchers in the Phillies' bullpen in 2004.

If balloting had ended yesterday, the left side of the Phillies' infield would be heading to Milwaukee for this year's All-Star Game. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins and third baseman Scott Rolen led at their respective positions in this year's first release of results by Major League Baseball. Rollins, an all-star reserve as a rookie, had 4,657 more votes than San Francisco's Rich Aurilia. Rolen, who has never made an all-star team, was 11,144 votes ahead of Florida's Mike Lowell. "I was pleasantly surprised to hear that," Rolen said.

You might think the only thing adding up for the Phillies these days are the road losses. Not true. The payroll also has increased significantly over the last week, as general manager Ed Wade desperately tries to keep this season from slipping away before it officially becomes summer. Before watching the Montreal Expos complete a three-game sweep of his team at Olympic Stadium yesterday, Wade pulled off his second trade in five days. This time, he acquired veteran lefthander Dan Plesac from the Toronto Blue Jays for seldom-used righthander Cliff Politte.

Want to know why Travis Lee doesn't work in Phoenix anymore? It's the same reason the Phillies remained winless on this road trip. Erubiel Durazo. Playing in just his second game since returning from a severe wrist injury, the Mexican native single-handedly slugged the world champion Arizona Diamondbacks to a 12-9 come-from-behind victory last night at Bank One Ballpark. Durazo, whose powerful bat pushed Lee out of Arizona's plans and opened the door for the Diamondbacks to make the Curt Schilling trade two seasons ago, hit three home runs that traveled a total of 1,235 feet and accounted for a club-record nine RBIs.

Hope has made a rapid return to this Phillies season. When they left San Francisco a week ago today, the last-place Phillies had lost 15 of their previous 19 games and already were 8 1/2 games out of first place. The fans were practicing their spelling assignments - E-A-G-L-E-S - and looking forward to the start of football training camp. But now the Phillies have made things interesting. Despite committing three errors, they stretched their season-long winning streak to four games last night with a 7-4 win over the Houston Astros in front of a Veterans Stadium crowd of 12,321.

A positive amid the Phillies' misery yesterday wasn't that hard to find. Rookie outfielder Jason Michaels made the most of his first major-league start, collecting two hits, including his first major-league home run, during his team's 9-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at frigid PNC Park. In addition to his work at the plate, Michaels nailed Adrian Brown trying to score on a single by Brian Giles in the bottom of the third inning. Michaels, playing center field in place of Doug Glanville, made a perfect throw to catcher Mike Lieberthal.

The Phillies couldn't blame the blown lead on the bullpen. At warp speed, Robert Person let a three-run cushion evaporate all by himself in the fourth inning last night. That doesn't mean you can't charge the beleaguered bullpen with a blown game. The relief trio of Jose Santiago, Cliff Politte and Ricky Bottalico played a major role in the Phillies' 8-7 loss to the Florida Marlins during the finale of this three-game series at Pro Player Stadium. Those three combined to allow four runs and four hits in the seventh and eighth innings, negating the four-run rally the Phillies used to tie the score in the top of the eighth.

Spring training has been over for 10 days, but the Phillies still find themselves facing another roster decision. With lefthander Randy Wolf ready to come off the disabled list and make his first start of the season Thursday against Atlanta, general manager Ed Wade and company must decide who will be the odd man out. Relievers Hector Mercado and Carlos Silva are the most likely candidates for one obvious reason: They each have an option remaining....

The target date for Randy Wolf's return was pushed back to April 11, Turk Wendell was told he wouldn't be on a big-league mound until after Memorial Day, and Pete Schourek was made available to any major-league team in the market for a lefthander with an 8.00 exhibition earned run average. Those were the Phillies' moves yesterday as they inched closer to setting their 25-man roster for opening day Monday in Atlanta. Although Wolf said the severity of the tightness in his left elbow had significantly decreased, the team and the pitcher decided it was in his best interest to open the season on the 15-day disabled list.