Mickey Morandini

The smoking one-hopper hit by Texas Rangers centerfielder Ruben Mateo in the fourth inning was right at Marlon Anderson. At least, it was until the Phillies second baseman pirouetted away from the ball, allowing it to roll under his glove. The official scorer's decision was announced: Hit. The crowd of 5,314 at the Phillies' 5-4 exhibition win yesterday over the Rangers booed even though manager Terry Francona later granted Anderson absolution: "That was a pea. If he had stayed in front of it, he might have been killed.

Lockers were being searched. Ditto for equipment bags. Any second, guys were going to be lined up against the wall for grilling and frisking. OK, so the concern had not reached that stage in the Phillies' clubhouse, but a glove was missing for a second straight day and the owner wanted it back. Not just any glove, mind you. It was the glove belonging to second baseman Mickey Morandini, the glove with which he had turned the only unassisted tripleplay in Phillies history (and the ninth in baseball history)

Kyle Abbott gloved Doug Dascenzo's fourth-inning bunt and turned toward first. All he saw there was another loss. John Kruk, standing alongside a surprised Abbott, shook his head at the painful sight of an uncovered bag. Mickey Morandini, realizing that his mistake was beyond redemption, halted his belated sprint and dropped his head. "Those things will turn a game around," Darren Daulton said after this one had. The Cubs turned Morandini's miscue into two runs on their way to a 3-0 victory over the Phillies yesterday at Wrigley Field.

Two days before they pack up and leave Florida, the Phillies still don't know who their second baseman will be when they open the regular season a week from today in Phoenix. Though nothing is official, Marlon Anderson appears to have lost the job because of subpar defensive play, and his chances of making a late push are slim. Anderson has missed four straight games with shinsplints and is likely to miss several more as camp winds down. Mickey Morandini, currently on a minor-league contract with the Montreal Expos, is the man the Phillies want.

The good news for the Phillies is that Mickey Morandini, the remedy to their second-base ills, is available for a trade. The bad news is that the Montreal Expos, who currently have Morandini under contract, are out to show the baseball world that things are different now that new owner Jeffrey Loria has taken over. The days of the Expos giving away players are finished. And they're using Morandini to prove it. "Something has to give," admitted manager Felipe Alou, who has two major-league-caliber second basemen, Morandini and Jose Vidro, who want to play every day. "But we won't be giving [Morandini]

Tommy Greene's season has been much like the Phillies'. There was a brief moment of early promise, but then, for more than four months, little but pain and frustration. Now Greene and the Phils are left to squeeze whatever tiny measure of hope they can from this miserable year. In his first big-league start since May 12, Greene did just that, providing some rare late-season encouragement. The righthander threw five shutout innings as the Phils defeated a rejuvenated Doc Gooden and the New York Mets, 2-1, last night at Veterans Stadium.

Sometime around 10:45 a.m., amid the doughnuts and yawns of a Sunday morning clubhouse, Wally Backman's loaded cigarette blew up in his face. Like a shot from a starter's gun, the mini-explosion signaled the beginning of a rather unusual day for the Phillies. The pivotal moment in the game that followed occurred on a throw to first base that never took place. And when reliever Wally Ritchie ended the Phils' 6-3, 11-inning victory over the Houston Astros yesterday, it marked his first save in five years.

Baseball got back to business yesterday. A mere 24 hours after unveiling a bold future that includes interleague play, the clubs returned to the workaday world of the present by exchanging figures with players who are eligible for salary arbitration. The Phillies swapped numbers with their four arbitration-eligible players: Second baseman Mickey Morandini submitted a figure of $2,200,000. The Phillies offered Morandini $1,375,000, a gap of $825,000. Reliever Heathcliff Slocumb, the subject of recent trade talks with the Boston Red Sox, asked for $1,690,000.

Shawn Boskie pitched better last night. That, of course, is like saying Eddie the Eagle landed a foot farther down the hill. The Phillies pitcher had been shelled for 12 runs in the 3 1/3 innings that comprised his two most recent starts. To improve on that, he required little more than a pulse. Hardly overpowering, but exceedingly resourceful and occasionally fortunate, Boskie rebounded strongly, limiting the Marlins to six hits and a single run in nine innings while the Phillies defeated Florida, 5-1, at Veterans Stadium.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Sometimes you look at the big-league lineup for a Grapefruit League road trip and you wonder if there's a better story right here at home. Sometimes you get it all wrong and it still turns out all right. John Mayberry Jr. and Hunter Pence were the only two regulars in the lineup for the Phillies' exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at McKechnie Field in Bradenton on Friday, so I decided to stay behind and watch Jim Thome play first base for the second time in a minor-league game at the Carpenter Complex.

Mike Fontenot is glad to be back in baseball, albeit at the triple-A level with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Fontenot, who played parts of six seasons in the majors, was released by the San Francisco Giants at the end of the exhibition season. He signed a minor-league contract with the Phillies on April 13 and joined the IronPigs on Monday after spending time in Clearwater at extended spring training. Last season he played shortstop, second base, and third base for the Giants and batted .227 with a .304 on-base percentage in 220 at bats.

David Buchanan made only six starts at single-A Clearwater last season after being promoted from Lakewood on Aug. 1. His performance with the Threshers and during spring training last month convinced the Phillies' player development department that the 22-year-old righthander was ready to pitch at double-A Reading. "We wanted to push him and we felt he had the pitches to be able to handle that level," said Benny Looper, the Phillies' assistant general manager in charge of player personnel.

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Gauntlett Eldemire III is the kind of name that grabs your attention, and the Phillies' sixth-round selection in the 2010 draft has the athletic ability needed to keep it. Only now, nearly two years after the Phillies picked him out of Ohio University, is the lightning-fast outfielder getting a chance to show off his skills. He is playing for the first time professionally at single-A Lakewood, and that alone is a relief for the soft-spoken 23-year-old. "Yeah, I am pretty happy because I haven't played in two years," Eldemire said before a recent game at the BlueClaws' First Energy Park.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Sometimes you look at the big-league lineup for a Grapefruit League road trip and you wonder if there's a better story right here at home. Sometimes you get it all wrong and it still turns out all right. John Mayberry Jr. and Hunter Pence were the only two regulars in the lineup for the Phillies' exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at McKechnie Field in Bradenton on Friday, so I decided to stay behind and watch Jim Thome play first base for the second time in a minor-league game at the Carpenter Complex.

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Phillies fans who entered a Lakewood-area country club for the Phillies Winter Caravan one night last week were welcomed with opportunities to buy a baseball or picture for Jesse Biddle to sign. It's been nearly 2 years since the Mount Airy native was drafted by his hometown team in the first round, but Biddle is still an attraction. And entering his second full season in the Phillies system, Biddle insists there's the same excitement about being affiliated with the Phillies team that there was when he was an 18-year-old who signed for a $1.16 million bonus.

Ryne Sandberg is staying, Mickey Morandini is moving up a level, and two former Phillies are returning to the organization as minor-league coaches. Sandberg, after learning last week that he did not get the managerial job with the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, will be back for a second season as manager of the Phillies' triple-A Lehigh Valley team. Sandberg's staff will remain intact, with Sal Rende returning as a coach and Rod Nichols as the pitching coach. Morandini, after returning to the organization as the manager at single-A Williamsport last season, will move up to single-A Lakewood in 2012.

Ryne Sandberg is staying, Mickey Morandini is moving up a level, and two former Phillies are returning to the organization as minor-league coaches. Sandberg, after learning last week that he did not get the managerial job with the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, will be back for a second season as manager of the Phillies' triple-A Lehigh Valley team. Sandberg's staff will remain intact, with Sal Rende returning as a coach and Rod Nichols as the pitching coach. Morandini, after returning to the organization as the manager at single-A Williamsport last season, will move up to single-A Lakewood in 2012.

A LOT OF YOUNGSTERS are taking the Phillies' success in stride. But it wasn't too long ago that there wasn't much to cheer about. Just 15 years ago, the Phils lost 95 games. That team's everyday lineup: Gregg Jefferies at first, Mickey Morandini at second, Kevin Stocker at shortstop , Todd Zeile at third, Benito Santiago catching, Pete Incaviglia in left, Ricky Otero in center, and Jim Eisenreich in right. Pitcher Curt Schilling had the most wins of any starter at 9-10. The others: Mike Williams (6-14)

THIS SPORTS-WRITING racket requires the occasional silly question. For example, Williamsport outfielder Aaron Altherr was selected for the New York-Penn League All-Star squad last week. The question went something like, "So, how did you feel when you found out you were named an All-Star?" He was too much of a gentleman to crack, "How do you think I felt, dummy?" "I was excited," the fleet 6-5, 190-pounder said. "That's what you try to play for the whole season. When it works out for you in the end, it's a great feeling.

Williamsport (31-23, third place, New York-Penn League Pinckney Division) Outfielder Aaron Altherr showed up at No. 10 on Baseball America's list of the organization's top prospects last offseason, and he noticed. "I saw it and I said, 'Don't think about it,' and it still got in there," Altherr said. The praise became a burden when the Phillies' 2009 ninth-round pick got off to a miserable start at single-A Lakewood. "That's probably one of the reasons I put a little extra pressure on myself in Lakewood," Altherr said.