Desi Relaford

Lefthander Terry Mulholland, who led the Phillies in wins, innings and games started this season, was traded last night to the Seattle Mariners for minor-league shortstop Desi Relaford. Relaford, 22, a switch-hitter, was batting .205 at triple-A Tacoma this season. "He's the best-looking young shortstop we could acquire," general manager Lee Thomas said at a news conference at Veterans Stadium, where the Phillies and Cardinals were rained out. Manager Jim Fregosi said Relaford would "play a little bit. " "He's supposed to be an outstanding prospect.

Phillies manager Terry Francona has downplayed the offensive contributions of rookie shortstop Desi Relaford through the first five weeks of the season. "His main job is to catch the ball," Francona said. "That's what I keep telling him - over and over and over. " Relaford has been steady in the field and, as a bonus, has been surprisingly efficient at the plate. Last night, Relaford's bat - and legs - played a critical role as the streaking Phillies overcame a three-run deficit and defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-4, before an announced crowd of 13,259 at chilly Veterans Stadium.

When you grow up on 179th Street in Manhattan, it takes a certain amount of effort to become a baseball player. For Alex Arias, that meant taking the A train to the F train and getting off in Brooklyn, where the fields were smoother and the competition was better. Maybe that's why Arias is always smiling these days. Flying around in major-league charters sure beats the crowded F train. "I appreciate being in the big leagues," the Phillies' new utility infielder said yesterday.

A year ago, Mark Lewis was beginning a forgettable one-year stint as the Phillies' starting second baseman. Throughout spring training, Lewis frequently said that one of his responsibilities as a veteran was to provide guidance for Desi Relaford, who was taking over the shortstop job at age 24. Now the truth can be told. "Last year, me and Louie didn't talk at all," Relaford said yesterday. "Every now and then a word would be uttered, but not often. For the most part, it seemed like I was out there by myself.

As an insurance policy in case Desi Relaford can't handle the everyday job at shortstop, the Phillies yesterday announced they had reached an agreement with veteran infielder Alex Arias on a one-year, $425,000 contract. Arias, 30, was the last player remaining from the Florida Marlins' inaugural 1993 roster when he was waived on Dec. 12. A .268 lifetime hitter, Arias batted .247 with one homer and 11 RBIs in 93 at-bats for the World Series champion Marlins last season. Acting general manager Ed Wade said that the Phillies and Arias' agent, Craig Fenech, reached an oral agreement about 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and that the contract would be delivered in a few days.

The Phillies remained in perpetual purge mode yesterday. Desi Relaford not only lost his position, he was stripped of his uniform. After the shortstop was claimed on waivers by the Padres, the Phillies worked a deal in which they will receive a player to be named later from San Diego. In the last six days, three members of the Phillies' opening-day lineup have gone to new teams. Only 11 of the 25 players who were on the Phillies' opening-day roster remain. "We might need a new team picture," manager Terry Francona said before the Phillies opened a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies last night at Coors Field.

During infield practice, second baseman Mark Lewis noticed right away the Shea Stadium dirt was heavy and loose, realized it could be a problem. What he couldn't have foreseen was that the problem would be running, not fielding. And that he would land smack in the middle of a play that could have helped turn the Phillies' opener into a win. Here's what happened: Lewis walked to lead off the fifth against Mets starter Bobby Jones. Bobby Abreu followed with a sharp single to right-center that caromed off Mets rightfielder Butch Huskey.

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.

Like many Phillies fans, John Posusney has his favorite players. "I like Mike Lieberthal, Scott Rolen, Doug Glanville and Bobby Abreau," said Posusney, of Northeast Philadelphia. And what about Alex Arias, whose seventh-inning home run in the Daily News Payoff inning made Posusney $1,000 richer? "I like Alex, too," he said. "I like him a lot better than Desi Relaford. " Arias got the start at shortstop against the Cubs last night because Relaford, who has 21 errors this season, is taking some time off because of inflammation in his right shoulder.

Ruben Amaro decided he needed to have a chat with the manager the other day. So he knocked on Terry Francona's door. "I kind of asked him to hang in there with me," Amaro said yesterday afternoon. "I told him I would try to do something good to help the team win one of these days. " That day came yesterday. With one out and Mike Lieberthal on second in the top of the 10th, Amaro doubled into the gap in left-center against Mets reliever Dennis Cook, driving in what proved to be the winning run in the Phillies' 7-6 win at Shea Stadium.

YOU ARE 39 years old. You have been hitting baseballs longer than some of your teammates have been driving cars, and you have been doing it at a damn high level. And then one day - poof. An 0-for-4 turns into an 0-for-8 turns into an 0-for-12. At first you are frustrated. Then you are lost. Then you are frustrated with feeling lost. The stages of grief are a lot like the stages of a slump. There is denial and isolation and anger and bargaining - or, as Charlie Manuel put it last night, a whole lotta praying - and plenty of depression.

THE PHILLIES laid their wretched 1996 season to rest during a late-September weekend series at Shea Stadium in New York. In those dying days, manager Jim Fregosi posted lineups that included Ricky Otero, Desi Relaford, Jon Zuber, Wendell Magee, Kevin Sefcik, Bobby Estalella and, playing rightfield and batting fourth, a spare outfielder named Ruben Amaro Jr. Even the supremely self-confident future general manager recognized that having him bat...

Desi Relaford is enjoying - and making the most of - his first pennant race. Relaford hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth inning and an RBI double during a five-run ninth as the visiting New York Mets rallied to beat the Montreal Expos, 12-6, last night. "It was a lot of fun," said Relaford, a former Phillie. "We're playing for something now and I've never been in a season where we've had something to play for. And it's a lot of fun to be in a position where you know you've got to win ballgames and you have to raise your level of play, and I think it does just that.

One and three. As the Phillies approach the quarter pole of the 2001 season, those are two of the more stunning numbers among the team's statistics. One represents the number of errors rookie shortstop Jimmy Rollins has made this season. Three is the number of home runs leftfielder Pat Burrell has hit in his first 135 at-bats this season. The Phillies, of course, could not be happier with the work they have received from Rollins, who would probably be the leading candidate for rookie of the year if St. Louis third baseman Albert Pujols was not the leading candidate for the National League MVP award.

It's the 21st century, but the Cincinnati Reds will have the 1992-93 Phillies on their minds. The Reds tied the modern National League record by playing their 174th straight game without being shut out, riding Pokey Reese's three-run homer and nifty fielding to beat the host New York Mets, 3-2, last night. The Reds will try to break the '92-93 Phillies' mark for avoiding shutouts today when they face Al Leiter. It was Leiter who last blanked Cincinnati, doing it Oct. 4, 1999, in a wild-card playoff.

Wide open. Those are the words manager Larry Bowa used yesterday to describe the Phillies' battle for bench jobs. So wide open that a kid who came into camp thinking he was getting ready to be the leftfielder for triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is now learning how to play third base just in case he opens the season in the big leagues. So wide open that Bowa insists that general manager Ed Wade isn't overly concerned about guaranteed contracts. "It's obvious that sometimes you want to get new blood in here," Bowa said.

Jimmy Rollins had heard all about Larry Bowa. He had no idea who he was, but Rollins kept hearing about Bowa from Billy DeMars, the Phillies' 75-year-old infield instructor and former third-base coach. "He'd be hitting me ground balls in the minor-league camp and he'd say, 'You're a lot better than Larry Bowa was at this age,' " Rollins said. "He kept bringing that name up and I was like, 'Who in the heck is this Larry Bowa?' That was all they'd talk about. It was just some name to me. " That changed on the first day of November when Bowa was named the Phillies' manager.

Wayne Gomes and Phillies substance-prevention educator Dickie Noles were talking. They have been friends for years, so the conversation was light and about nothing in particular until the righthanded reliever startled Noles by raising an uncomfortable subject. The Phillies reliever started talking about the possibility he might not make the team this year. That could happen, of course. The math is simple. There figure to be six openings in the bullpen. Three will go to the free-agent relievers who were signed over the winter: Jose Mesa, Rheal Cormier and Ricky Bottalico.

It was the move that was marked by common sense. . .and at the same time defied all logic. It steered the safest course. . .and involved breathtaking risk. It seemed so utterly right. . .and completely shocking. When Larry Bowa stepped to the podium on the 33rd floor of the Loews Hotel in Center City to be formally introduced as the Phillies' next manager shortly after high noon, he had a William Penn's-eye view of the city and ambitions that were just as soaring. This was news that stirred extreme emotions.

Evaluation became an evil word in the Philllies' clubhouse in the final weeks of the season. After standing firmly behind the manager and coaching staff even in the worst of times, general manager Ed Wade changed course on Aug. 26, saying that Terry Francona and his coaches would be evaluated for the remainder of the season. Given that Wade had just completed a major makeover of the roster - bidding goodbye to ace Curt Schilling, No. 2 starter Andy Ashby, and regulars Desi Relaford, Mickey Morandini, Rico Brogna and Ron Gant - it was inevitable that Wade's evaluation would end exactly the way it did yesterday.