Jim Thome

Reunions can be fun. Watching Brian Dawkins hug his former Eagles teammates and fight back tears as he talked about the late Jim Johnson's profound impact on his career was one more grand moment for the man who used to serve as the needle that inflated the energy level at Lincoln Financial Field. Reunions can be painful. Watching 41-year-old Jim Thome play baseball this season has been excruciating. Thome, of course, was the man who by simply signing a contract restored enthusiasm for a franchise that had fallen into a dark abyss.

The reality of it all is still sinking in for Jim Thome. No, not the reality of leaving the Cleveland Indians after 12 years, 334 home runs, and enough good memories to stretch across Lake Erie and back. He has come to terms with that. No, not the reality of being the one player to score huge dollars in a winter in which free-agent salaries have fallen from the breathtaking heights of previous years. Thome is keenly aware of what has happened to the market, and he appreciates every dollar and every bit of faith the Phillies have lavished upon him as they hitch their hopes of becoming a perennial contender to his broad shoulders.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The experiment began Monday afternoon on Richie Ashburn Field at the Carpenter Complex when shortstop Tyler Greene, 19, fielded a grounder and tossed it to Jim Thome, 41, standing on first base. The future Hall of Famer could have quit long ago and he'd still be headed to Cooperstown. Seven players in baseball history have mashed more home runs than Thome. He is a legend, and dozens of Phillies minor-leaguers treated him as such. Yet here was Thome, 1,734 days removed from his last appearance at first base, manning the position in an intrasquad minor-league game.

Listening to the people who know Jim Thome well, one would think the Phillies signed a saint, not a slugger. "You tell the Philadelphia fans they got a great player and a great guy," Charlie Manuel said last night. "They're going to love this guy. He'll make the Phillies' offense better, and he'll do whatever he can in the community. " Manuel has known Thome for more than a decade, first when Manuel was a hitting coach and then as when he managed the Cleveland Indians. To this day, Manuel remains Thome's baseball godfather.

HE STOOD on the painted baseball that marked his 400th home run the other day, chatting up fans as part of the Phillies' On-Deck Series of games designed to add a little revenue for a payroll that is now beyond anyone's imagination, a payroll absorbing another $1.25 million so that the man who started it all could have one last stab at the ultimate prize. Jim Thome smiled and shook a hundred or so hands and told and listened to stories as more of the early crowd wandering around Citizens Bank Park found him and flocked toward him. I told him later it was like watching a family greet a beloved relative they rarely see, which is kind of what Thome has been since leaving Philadelphia after the 2005 season.

CHARLIE MANUEL'S relationship with Jim Thome dates back to when the future Hall of Fame slugger was an anonymous 19-year-old minor leaguer who few thought had the tools to develop into an everyday big-leaguer. In fact, Manuel, who was a coach in the Indians' minor league system, initially paid more attention to another first-base prospect named Mike Davis. "I used to work with Mike Davis every day, and Jimmy would always hang out with him," Manuel said. "Really, I just kind of wondered, because I didn't think Jimmy was real good at that time.

CLEVELAND - Jim Thome has swung back to the Cleveland Indians. The slugger accepted a trade from Minnesota last night to return to the Indians, the team he started with and one hoping its career home-run leader can help them run down first-place Detroit in the AL Central. An unexpected season full of surprises and comeback wins for the Indians now has the most improbable return of all. As he's done on more than 600 career homers, Thome has rounded the bags and is coming home.

The Milwaukee Brewers were too worried about centerfielder Chuckie Carr's badly damaged right knee to fret over their 2-0 loss to the Charles Nagy and the visiting Cleveland Indians last night. Nagy became the American League's first nine-game winner and the Indians snapped a three-game skid. But Carr's injury dominated quiet talk in the Brewers' clubhouse. Carr was seriously hurt while making a sensational, leaping catch of Julio Franco's deep fly ball in the fourth inning.

Before Friday's series opener with the visiting New York Mets, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel talked about the importance of being patient against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Easier said than done when confronted with the floater. The Phillies took their hacks but were thrown off rhythm by the righthander, whose previous history at Citizens Bank Park left much to be desired. Dickey surrendered one run over seven innings as the Mets opened the weekend series with a 5-2 win over the Phillies.

Jim Thome got a hefty pay raise, hit two home runs and led the Cleveland Indians to their fourth straight win. "I guess you could say it turned out to be a pretty nice day," he said. Thome, who learned yesterday he'll be with the Indians for at least another year, hit his American League-leading 41st and 42nd homers as Cleveland completed a three-game sweep with a 6-1 win over the visiting Minnesota Twins. Thome's $7.5 million contract option was picked up earlier in the day by the Indians.

ATLANTA - Cliff Lee's stay on the disabled list may not be much longer than the mandated 15 days. Lee threw what he termed a pain-free bullpen session Wednesday at Turner Field, taking the next step in his recovery from a strained left side. He is eligible to be activated Friday, but it won't happen then. Still, there is optimism. The lefthander said he is scheduled to throw another bullpen Saturday. If that goes well, he could be activated next week. "It's slowly gotten better," Lee said.

Reunions can be fun. Watching Brian Dawkins hug his former Eagles teammates and fight back tears as he talked about the late Jim Johnson's profound impact on his career was one more grand moment for the man who used to serve as the needle that inflated the energy level at Lincoln Financial Field. Reunions can be painful. Watching 41-year-old Jim Thome play baseball this season has been excruciating. Thome, of course, was the man who by simply signing a contract restored enthusiasm for a franchise that had fallen into a dark abyss.

Before Friday's series opener with the visiting New York Mets, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel talked about the importance of being patient against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Easier said than done when confronted with the floater. The Phillies took their hacks but were thrown off rhythm by the righthander, whose previous history at Citizens Bank Park left much to be desired. Dickey surrendered one run over seven innings as the Mets opened the weekend series with a 5-2 win over the Phillies.

PITTSBURGH - The Phillies signed Chad Qualls in the winter because they valued his durability; no pitcher has appeared in more games since 2005 than the 33-year-old righthander. But three games into the season, Qualls is sidelined by a nebulous right heel injury he could barely describe, which only complicated the Phillies' middle-relief puzzle in Sunday's 5-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Qualls said it felt like a "knife was going at the back of my heel" when he was walking around in his spikes Saturday afternoon.

HE STOOD on the painted baseball that marked his 400th home run the other day, chatting up fans as part of the Phillies' On-Deck Series of games designed to add a little revenue for a payroll that is now beyond anyone's imagination, a payroll absorbing another $1.25 million so that the man who started it all could have one last stab at the ultimate prize. Jim Thome smiled and shook a hundred or so hands and told and listened to stories as more of the early crowd wandering around Citizens Bank Park found him and flocked toward him. I told him later it was like watching a family greet a beloved relative they rarely see, which is kind of what Thome has been since leaving Philadelphia after the 2005 season.

TAMPA, Fla. - Antonio Bastardo sat in the visiting clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Field and kept pounding his left arm, which was wrapped in ice, with his right fist. "I was feeling more power," Bastardo said. He pounded his arm again. "I was feeling on top of the ball," he said, "and I felt the whip of the ball. " That is a relief for the Phillies, who may have one less bullpen question. Bastardo started Friday's 13-9 Phillies loss to the Yankees and faced four batters.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Jim Thome wore a wide grin in the Phillies dugout at Bright House Field before he even took batting practice Sunday morning. "Man, it's exciting," he said. The occasion was Thome's first appearance at first base in a major-league game since 2007. He played five innings in Sunday's 3-3 tie with Baltimore and mastered what little action was required. No balls were hit to Thome, who recorded three putouts. That didn't make it any less awesome for Thome.

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Fans at Bright House Field will see something Sunday that has not happened since June 30, 2005. Jim Thome, veteran slugger and likely Hall of Famer, will play first base for the Phillies. "I'm ready for the big show," Thome said Saturday after seeing his name in the lineup that was posted for Sunday's game against the Orioles. "I feel good. " With less than two weeks to go before opening day, the Phillies are still optimistic that Thome's 41-year-old body will enable him to make one or two starts a week at first base as Ryan Howard recovers from surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Third baseman Placido Polanco said X-rays of his left ring finger taken after he left Saturday's game against Toronto were negative, and he categorized himself as day-to-day. "It's a little stiff today and a little swelling," Polanco said Sunday morning. "I jammed it, and it's day-to-day. I just have to see how I feel every day. " Assistant general manager Scott Proefrock described the injury as "a little sprain" and said Polanco would miss only a couple of days.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - As the sellout crowd at Bright House Field cheered a leadoff home run by Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins on Saturday, Jim Thome went through the task of testing his aging back for the second time this spring in a sparsely attended minor-league game at the Carpenter Complex. Thome, after being too sore from his first appearance Monday to play Thursday and Friday, gave a positive report after his four-inning stint with the Phillies' triple-A team. "After playing, I definitely felt a little bit of soreness the next day," Thome said.