Darren Daulton

Now it's the Phillies' manager on the disabled list. Jim Fregosi checked into Thomas Jefferson University Hospital after yesterday's 9-2 loss to the Giants for treatment of a sore back. Fregosi has complained about the back for several days, and sent coach John Vukovich out to make an eighth-inning pitching change during yesterday's game after hobbling out to take out starter David West in the fourth. Team spokesman Larry Shenk said team trainer Jeff Cooper advised Fregosi "to get a couple of days' rest and medication and see how he does.

The Philadelphia Phillies needed two runs in the top of the ninth last night to stave off their double-A minor-league club and pull out a 7-6 win. They defeated the Reading Phillies before a near-sellout crowd of 6,713. The Phillies exploded for five runs in the fifth inning on a three-run home run by Darren Daulton and a two-run homer by Randy Ready. John Kruk and Dickie Thon had singled before Daulton's blast, and Sil Campusano had walked before Ready's homer. But the Phillies were tied with Reading at 5-5 heading into the top of the ninth, when third baseman David Hollins singled to lead off the inning.

The Phillies have walked a league-high 61 times. And there is more to that than selective hitters and careful pitchers. "There's no question that they've been pitching around some hitters in our lineup," manager Jim Fregosi said. Darren Daulton, for example, leads the National League with 15 walks in just 12 games. "That's something that's going to happen in this game when you become a good hitter," Fregosi said. Fregosi said he had contemplated switching Daulton, who bats fifth, and No. 3 hitter John Kruk in the lineup.

It's great to see two much-admired former Phillies doing so well in the baseball World Series. Now Florida Marlins, good guys Darren Daulton and Jim Eisenreich have been stroking clutch hit after clutch hit. It'd be even better if any of the kids who idolized those two had a fighting chance of staying awake to see them do their stuff. The story of baseball's showcase so far has been cold weather, bad fielding and low television ratings. The low ratings have partly to do with no teams from New York or Los Angeles being involved.

Former Phillies catcher Darren Daulton, who crashed his 1995 BMW into a tree off Interstate 75 in Florida on Wednesday night, had lost his driver's license for failing to pay traffic fines. Daulton was charged with driving under the influence and for driving with a suspended license after the one-car accident in Hernando County, which caused an estimated $20,000 damage to his car. Daulton, who turned 39 on Wednesday, has received five speeding tickets since 1991, the most recent in July 1998 for going 100 m.p.h.

There was something good about the way Lenny Dykstra broke his collarbone for the second time this season, and we've been grasping for a way to say it that won't seem insensitive to the pain being endured by Mr. Dykstra, not to mention the Phillies' ever-suffering adherents. The scrappy centerfielder broke it the first time when he wrapped his car (not to mention catcher Darren Daulton) around some immovable object. This time he broke it while crashing into the lamentably unpadded outfield wall in Cincinnati in the course of successfully pursuing a fly ball.

He was 8 when his father got season tickets to Dodger Stadium. He was just a little older when he leaned over a rail and begged Fernando Valenzuela for an autograph. Baseball has these moments now and then, when idol and fan meet in uniform. They are always deliciously awkward. So it was yesterday, when 22-year-old Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal, just called up from Triple A Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre, found his locker one down from the lefthander he rooted so hard for as a kid. Valenzuela walked up to Lieberthal and introduced himself.

Gregg Jefferies was 0 for 4 for the Phillies yesterday in his first game off the disabled list, and he stumbled awkwardly after bouncing off the left- field wall in pursuit of Mike Kelly's fourth-inning double for Atlanta. If you think the Phillies' pitching staff looked anonymous at one point this season, take a look at the Pirates' starters for this week's three-game set against the Phils in Pittsburgh: John Eriks (0-1) will face Paul Quantrill (7-3) tomorrow afternoon; Esteban Loaiza (5-3)

Former Phillies All-Star catcher Darren Daulton remained in jail without bond Tuesday after being arrested for failure to appear in court on a probation violation. The ex-major leaguer was arrested Monday at Tampa International Airport and taken to the Hillsborough County Jail, officials said. Daulton, 43, played most of his 14-year career with the Phillies and Florida Marlins. The three-time All-Star won a World Series and was National League Comeback Player of the Year with the Marlins in 1997.

2006: Bobby Abreu was one of the top hitters in Phillies history and a nice-enough guy. But when he was traded to the Yankees at the trade deadline, the dynamic of the clubhouse was reshaped. The laid-back demeanor and last-minute arrivals that characterized Abreu's stay vanished. Pat Burrell, who had been in the clubhouse shadows, took a step forward, as did others. A new sense of urgency arose as the team, counted out at the all-star break, made a strong second-half run and finished in second place.