John Mayberry

ALLENTOWN - John Mayberry Jr. slugged three doubles to help lift the Lehigh Valley IronPigs to an 8-1 win over the Syracuse Chiefs on Saturday night in the International League. Mayberry drove home two runs, while Cody Ransom and Dewayne Wise also each had a pair of RBIs for Lehigh Valley. IronPigs righthander Drew Carpenter gave up just two hits and an earned run in his six innings to get the win. Lakewood 7, Greensboro 1 LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Anthony Hewitt's line-drive single drove in three runs to cap a six-run eruption in the second inning as the BlueClaws topped the Grasshoppers in the South Atlantic League.

ALLENTOWN - John Mayberry Jr. homered in the second inning and Ozzie Chavez hit a two-run blast in the third to start the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on the way to a 6-4 victory over the Norfolk Tides Saturday in an International League game. Nate Bump improved to 8-4. Scott Mathieson picked up his 20th save. READING - Yohan Flande (7-7) was strafed for 12 hits and eight earned runs in five innings as the Aeros rolled past the Phillies in the Eastern League. ALTOONA, Pa. - Trenton's Lance Pendleton (9-4)

ATLANTA - The Phillies lineup that made a dreadful, eight-game hitting slump seem like a distant memory was slightly altered for the final game of the regular season Wednesday as Shane Victorino was given a chance to rest a stiff back. Victorino was replaced in the lineup by John Mayberry Jr. , who played center field and had the challenge of facing tough Braves righthander Tim Hudson . Mayberry went into the game batting .252 against righthanders with a .333 on-base percentage and .464 slugging percentage.

WYOMISSING - Whether this is lip service or the truth is to be determined sometime in March in Clearwater, Fla. But Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said yesterday that while he believes Domonic Brown would benefit from more sustained playing time in the minor leagues, Brown will have a chance to win the leftfield job away from John Mayberry Jr. this spring. "He could surprise all of us and come with guns a-blazing and win a job at the major league level this year out of spring training," Amaro said.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - No news was the only news Tuesday on Ryan Howard's visit to Baltimore-based foot surgeon Mark Myerson. The Phillies first baseman left camp Monday for a follow-up visit during which Myerson was also going to examine what team trainer Scott Sheridan described as an "open wound" near Howard's surgically repaired left Achilles tendon. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. described Howard's condition as seroma – a pocket of clear fluid that sometimes develops in an area after surgery – and Sheridan said it is not uncommon.

Say this for John Mayberry Jr.: The young man knows how to catch your attention. Whether he is denting the roof of the tiki bar beyond the left-field seats in Clearwater's Bright House Field with a spring training blast or homering in his first major-league game, in Yankee Stadium, Mayberry has a powerful bat, and he knows how to swing it memorably. Because of that skill, one that righty bench options Eric Bruntlett and Chris Coste possess in more, ahem, modest quantities, many Phillies fans have campaigned for the 25-year-old Mayberry to remain with the team.

Before the fans at parking-lot tailgates spilled into Citizens Bank Park to begin the most anticipated season in Philadelphia's baseball history, John Mayberry Jr. found a pair of scissors to cut the bottom of his pant legs so they'd look more stylish. Placido Polanco unwrapped some new bats and swung through air. Wilson Valdez attempted to put his uniform pants on over his head. Friday's dramatic 5-4 win over Houston was another game, the first of at least 162 in the next six months.

This is the final part of a four-part series by David Murphy looking at the Phillies as they head into spring training. Today: The bench. FOR MOST of the last 5 years, the Phillies' bench has consisted of well-defined roles: The righthanded-hitting reserve outfielder (So Taguchi, Ben Francisco, John Mayberry Jr.). The lefthanded-hitting corner infielder/outfielder (Greg Dobbs, Ross Gload). The lefty slugger (Matt Stairs, Jim Thome). The utility man (Eric Bruntlett, Juan Castro, Wilson Valdez)

When the Phillies signed free-agent outfielder Delmon Young this week for a bargain-basement one-year guarantee of $750,000, it said a lot about the organization's willingness to take risk, about the sweet rewards of forgiveness, and it also spoke a volume about the team's real feeling concerning the future of Domonic Brown. Maybe Ruben Amaro Jr. had this move in his back pocket all along, and was just doing his homework to judge whether Young was still radioactive after a 2012 incident that included public drunkenness and an anti-Semitic rant directed toward a panhandler wearing a yarmulke and a Star of David on the streets of New York.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - First, Darin Ruf hit a walkoff home run that gave the Phillies a victory over the Braves. Next, he spent 15 minutes signing autographs for fans along the third-base line. Then he answered reporters' questions for 10 minutes. And after all that, Ruf was summoned to Charlie Manuel's office, where the manager and GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told him he was being sent down to minor league camp. It was a fitting end to what had been a whirlwind spring training for the Phillies' improbable prospect.