Michael Stutes

It's early until it isn't. For a baseball team, there is a fine line between maintaining perspective and complacently allowing things to slip away. The Phillies have to watch that line very closely this year, especially when it comes to their pitching - particularly the bullpen. A week in, there are legitimate questions about the bullpen, and the outfield defense, and the lack of power. But the real question, after two lost series, is just what the Phillies accomplished during their seven weeks in Clearwater, Fla. Spring training was extended a bit because of the World Baseball Classic.

The scoreboard has been kind to the Phillies. While they slip, slide and fall in their modest pursuit of reaching .500, the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals have failed to pull away. It's hard to believe that any team could have a worse on-base percentage than the .304 the Phillies have posted through 41 games. But five teams do, and the Nationals, at .292, are one of them. The Braves, meanwhile, started 13-2 and have gone 9-16 since. The misfortune of others will not matter if the Phillies cannot fix their myriad problems.

Michael Stutes and two relievers combined on a one-hitter to lead the Lakewood BlueClaws to a 4-0 South Atlantic League victory over the Savannah Sand Gnats last night. Stutes gave up Savannah's only hit with one out in the seventh inning. Eryk McConnell and Jared Simon each tossed a hitless inning in relief. Matthew Rizzotti went 3 for 3 for Lakewood, including a solo homer. Bowie 6, Trenton 2 TRENTON - New York Yankees pitcher Carl Pavano, pitching for Trenton, was torched by the BaySox in an Eastern League loss.

Jerad Head's three-run double in the fourth inning led the Akron Aeros past the Reading Phillies, 9-4, last night in the first game of the Eastern League Southern Division playoffs. Head had four RBIs in the game as Akron reached Reading starter Michael Stutes for nine hits and six runs in 5 1/3 innings. Ozzie Chavez had a double and an RBI for Reading. Freddy Galvis and Mike Spidale also drove in a run for the Phillies. Latewood 4, Kannapolis 2 KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - Matthew Way struck out seven in seven innings while allowing only one run as the BlueClaws beat the Indians in the first game of the South Atlantic League North Division playoffs.

TYSON BRUMMETT'S brief Phillies career is over. Brummett, 28, who made his major league debut in the last game of the season, was claimed off waivers Thursday by the Toronto Blue Jays. Before joining the Phillies for the last three games, Brummett went 5-6 with a 3.20 ERA in 44 games between Double A Reading and Triple A Lehigh Valley in 2012. A seventh-round pick in the 2007 draft, Brummett went 26-47 with a 4.52 ERA in six minor league seasons in the Phillies organization. The Phillies' 40-man roster stands at 37 after Brummett, catcher Steven Lerud and infielder Pete Orr were removed Thursday.

LOUISVILLE - Kyle Kendrick had the lead when he left after seven innings last night, but the Louisville Bats rallied to beat the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 5-4, in the International League. The Bats won it with a two-run home run by Danny Dorn in the bottom of the eighth. Kendrick, who was making just his 12th career triple-A start, allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out two. Reading 6, New Hampshire 1 MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Phillies opened the scoring with a five-run fifth inning, and Michael Stutes went 6 2/3 innings to claim the Eastern League victory.

SEATTLE - This weekend is a homecoming for not just Raul Ibanez, but a bunch of Phillies. Kyle Kendrick grew up in Mount Vernon, Wash., about 60 miles north of Seattle. Michael Stutes is from Lake Oswego, Ore., about a three-hour drive south of Seattle. (He said he bought some 20 tickets for Friday's game.) Cliff Lee started 13 games for the Mariners in 2010 and rented Jamie Moyer's Seattle-area house for half the season. Benny Looper, an assistant general manager, was also on the trip.

After some debate, the Phillies have decided to carry 11 pitchers for the National League Division Series against the Cardinals. The Phillies announced their roster this afternoon. Manager Charlie Manuel would not definitively say that was the plan at his news conference earlier today, but gave that indication. The 11 pitchers are righthanders Joe Blanton, Roy Halladay, Kyle Kendrick, Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson, Roy Oswalt, Michael Stutes, Vance Worley and lefthanders Antonio Bastardo, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee. The Phillies will carry six infielders in Ryan Howard, Michael Martinez, Placido Polanco, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Wilson Valdez; six outfielders in Ben Francisco, Ross Gload, Raúl Ibañez, John Mayberry Jr., Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino; and catchers Carlos Ruiz and Brian Schneider.

Mike Cervenak's RBI double in the 11th led to a 3-0 win by the Lehigh Valley IronPigs over the Pawtucket Red Sox last night in the International League. New Britain 3, Reading 2 NEW BRITAIN, Conn. - Luke Hughes' RBI single in the seventh lifted the Rock Cats over the Phillies in the Eastern League. Lakewood 4, Lake County 3 LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Vladimir De Los Santos's RBI double in the eighth was the deciding run for the BlueClaws over the Captains in the South Atlantic League.

Mike Spidale and Neil Sellers each drove in a run in the top of the ninth as the Reading Phillies topped the Trenton Thunder, 6-5, in the Eastern League last night. The Phillies had to survive a two-run Trenton ninth, however, generated largely by a pair of Reading errors after two were out. Reading starter Michael Stutes gave up just one earned run in seven innings while striking out six. Trenton's Edwardo Nunez went 3 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI. Louisville 2, Lehigh Valley 1 ALLENTOWN - Drew Stubbs' RBI double in the seventh gave the Bats the win over the IronPigs in the International League.