Dontrelle Willis

The Florida Marlins continue to tell teams that they are not going to trade lefthander Dontrelle Willis. Not every team is buying that, though. Count the Phillies among them. There have been strong indications in recent days that the Phils will be players in the Willis sweepstakes if Florida decides to move him, and many baseball executives believe that will indeed happen as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches. Last weekend, Phillies general manager Pat Gillick sent his most trusted aide, scout Don Welke, to watch Willis' start against Tampa Bay. The Phils wanted fresh reports on Willis, just in case he becomes available.

Jon Lieber left Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday without a word. He spoke a little more freely last night. "I'm killing my teammates," he said after a 5-2 loss to the Florida Marlins at Dolphins Stadium. "That's the bottom line. " Lieber isn't the first Phillies pitcher to struggle against the Marlins, and he won't be the last. The Phillies are 11-29 against them since mid-April 2003. But Lieber expressed his frustrations for a few reasons: He is 0-3 with a 9.39 ERA in his last three starts.

The Florida Marlins have no plans to trade either Dontrelle Willis or Miguel Cabrera, owner Jeffrey Loria said yesterday. Loria was reacting to speculation that the Marlins might be looking to unload Willis before the July 31 trade deadline. Loria said the rumors were "unfounded" and "irresponsible. " Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Yhency Brazoban will undergo Tommy John surgery next week on his strained right elbow and will miss the rest of the season. Lefthander C.J. Wilson was activated from the 15-day disabled list by the Texas Rangers, who optioned righthander Scott Feldman to triple-A Oklahoma.

The Texas Rangers traded AL saves leader Ugueth Urbina to the Florida Marlins for three minor-leaguers yesterday. Florida gave up first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2000 amateur draft, outfielder Will Smith and lefthanded pitcher Ryan Snare, the only one of the three on the Marlins' 40-man roster. All three are playing in double A. Urbina bolsters the Marlins' bullpen as they try to make a push for the NL wild card. Florida entered the day two games above .500 and only 4 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot.

The way Dontrelle Willis has been hitting, the Florida Marlins might be tempted to move him up in the batting order. Willis hit his second career homer and Miguel Cabrera homered for the fourth straight game, leading the Florida Marlins over the Montreal Expos, 9-0, last night in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Willis (2-0) went 3-for-3, also singling and doubling, and is 6-for-6 at the plate this season. He also homered May 31 against Cincinnati. The NL Rookie of the Year has seven consecutive hits dating to last season, one shy of the club record held by Gary Sheffield and Preston Wilson.

Dontrelle Willis couldn't get Adrian Beltre out, and he couldn't get pitcher Odalis Perez out, either. In fact, by the third inning he couldn't get anybody out. Willis retired only six batters and gave up seven runs, including a three-run homer by Beltre that helped the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Florida Marlins, 9-3, last night. In a rare show of offense by the Dodgers, their first eight hitters reached base in the third inning as they scored six times. Nine runs matched their best since April 20. Willis (11-3)

Count on Dontrelle Willis for an unorthodox delivery. Awaiting the imminent birth of his first child, Willis went about his business last night, pitching 6 2/3 innings and hitting a standup triple to help the Florida Marlins beat the visiting Atlanta Braves, 8-7. Willis (4-1) became the NL's first four-game winner. Sitting at his locker 3 1/2 hours before the game, Willis said his wife, Natalee, was expected to deliver a daughter last night, but was hours from delivery by game time.

ATLANTA - Even before finishing off a 12-3 win over the Colorado Rockies last night, the Atlanta Braves clinched their 14th straight division title. They also held off telling the fans at Turner Field. The Braves had just wrapped up a four-run fifth inning, giving them a 7-1 lead over the Rockies, when the Mets finished a 3-2 win over the Phillies. That wrapped up Atlanta's 14th straight crown, a streak dating back to 1991, when the Braves were in the National League West.

Excerpt from a post on the Daily News THE SITUATION I am more interested in among the Phillies' arbitration-eligible players is that of lefthander Cole Hamels. Hamels was pretty upset last season when the Phillies renewed his contract at $500,000. I talked to his agent Sunday, who said that there are no hard feelings between the two sides. But John Boggs also said the Phillies and Hamels have not yet had any discussions about a potential long-term deal, and he didn't have a good feeling on the likelihood of such a contract.

The Phillies never had a chance. They never had a chance against Florida Marlins lefthander Dontrelle Willis, who hasn't allowed an earned run in two starts against the Phillies this season. They never had a chance to hit in the bottom of the sixth inning, either. There were three rain delays that totaled 3 hours, 57 minutes before last night's 2-1 loss was called after 5 1/2 innings. "They said the field was too wet," manager Charlie Manuel said. "There was water standing on the infield.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - From 2003 through 2009, Dontrelle Willis earned roughly $41 million in major- league salary. On Friday, the Phillies saved roughly $69,000 by cutting him. Willis' steep fall from grace will not end in a Phillies uniform, thanks to a shaky trio of outings that was interrupted by a bout with arm soreness. The 30-year-old lefthander, who helped lead the Marlins on a shocking World Series run as a rookie in 2003, had signed a non-guaranteed major-league contract in hopes of reinventing himself as a reliever.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Jose Contreras had the satisfaction of not being the oldest player in Phillies minor-league camp Monday. That distinction belonged to 41-year-old Jim Thome, who swung at the first pitch from the 40-year-old Cuban and grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Contreras pitched in a game for the first time since September elbow surgery. The results were encouraging, even though it was an intrasquad minor-league game. He threw 21 pitches (14 strikes) and faced five batters.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - For a few innings of Thursday's 5-4 victory over Pittsburgh in Grapefruit League play, Domonic Brown stood next to manager Charlie Manuel on the top step of the Phillies dugout. Brown has missed the last three days of action because of a sprained right thumb, which was scheduled for an examination later in the afternoon. But Manuel used the down time for a chance to have Brown's ear. The 24-year-old must still make improvements on defense. If it weren't for a gaffe Monday, Brown's thumb would be fine.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Dontrelle Willis pulled a red sleeve over his left arm and held nothing back. He is here to begin the next chapter of his mystifying career, and Wednesday was equally baffling. Willis told Phillies trainers that the biceps soreness he had reported a day earlier was gone. Then, after throwing 33 lackluster pitches that yielded four runs on three hits and two walks, he stood on the mound at Bright House Field and told his pitching coach it still hurt. "I was [terrible]

Observations, insinuations, ruminations and unvarnished opinions . . .   SEVENTH INNING. Phillies trail by a run. Charlie has been forced to his bullpen early. Jose Contreras is in a first-and-second, two-out jam. A lefthanded pinch-hitter is announced. Dontrelle Willis gets the call. He blows the guy away on four pitches. Now the dilemma. The pitcher's spot leads off the bottom of the inning. A righthanded reliever is on the mound. Jim Thome is Charlie's last lefthanded bat on the bench.

Jimmy Rollins and Dontrelle Willis grew up in the same town and attended the same high school, and both had mothers who played professional softball. They have long traded barbs about who is better - Rollins, for the record, is only a career .239 hitter in 63 at-bats against Willis - and fostered a kinship as two Bay Area African Americans playing baseball. But they've never been teammates, until now. Well, maybe. OK, probably. "He was probably more excited about the deal than I was," Willis said of Rollins.

Dontrelle Willis will turn 30 in January, and maybe that is cause enough for his next baseball adventure. He has already won rookie of the year, finished second in Cy Young voting, and resurrected a career presumed wrecked at age 26 by pitching for six minor-league affiliates. Now the Phillies hope he can become an effective lefthanded reliever. A major-league source confirmed that Willis and the Phillies agreed to a one-year deal Tuesday, pending a physical. His base salary, first reported by ESPN.com, will be less than $1 million.

Milwaukee Brewers manager Ron Roenicke stayed away from hobbled slugger Ryan Braun yesterday. He was worried the All-Star outfielder would aggravate an injury, so he decided against using him as a pinch-hitter. As it turns out, the rest of the Brewers' bench did just fine. Pinch-hitter Nyjer Morgan started a ninth-inning rally off Cincinnati closer Francisco Cordero (3-3) with a single and stolen base. Fellow pinch-hitter Mark Kotsay tied it with an RBI single. And yet another pinch-hitter, Craig Counsell, delivered a sacrifice fly to lift the Brewers to a 4-3 victory.