Mike Lieberthal

Beating the Atlanta Braves gets a whole lot easier once Greg Maddux leaves the game. The trick, of course, is getting him to leave. Atlanta's ace was cruising toward his 10th win of the season last night - if anyone, even Maddux, can be cruising with a one-run lead - but some uncharacteristic wildness and understandable fatigue derailed him in the eighth inning. With Maddux gone, the Phils beat up on the Atlanta bullpen in a four-run inning to fashion an unlikely, 5-2 comeback win that gave the Phillies three wins in the four-game series against the National League's best team.

As controversies go, this one is a lot more pleasant than having your third baseman show up at spring training and declare that your team is not committed to winning. Nevertheless, the Phillies do have a difficult decision on the horizon that will dramatically affect three catchers who have done an outstanding job for them. Phillies general manager Ed Wade said yesterday that he is in on-going negotiations with catcher Mike Lieberthal's agent about picking up his $7.25 million option for next season and extending his contract beyond that.

It looks like a good plan. Add David Bell, Jim Thome and Kevin Millwood to Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu and Randy Wolf and you'd think the sum of those parts would be enough to make the Phillies a contender in 2003. What could possibly go wrong for a team that invested so much time and money into getting better during the off-season? Take a look up the middle. That's a vital part of any baseball team's success or failure, and it's possible it could be a strength for the Phillies this season.

If Curt Schilling could figure out a way to face the powerful Atlanta Braves every five days, if he could bottle the eighth-inning magic that made Veterans Stadium percolate with emotion last night, the veteran righthander might continue to resemble his old dominating self. At least that's what the statistics indicate. Schilling was at his overpowering best last night, striking out a season-high 11 and allowing just five hits in eight electric innings as the Phillies defeated the Atlanta Braves, 2-1, in front of a roaring crowd of 20,495.

Mike Lieberthal's long tenure as Phillies catcher will reach two high points soon. He will make his club-record 10th opening day start today. That will leave him 44 games shy of the club record for most games caught. The 34-year-old Californian comes into the season having squatted behind the plate for 1,079 games with the Phils and ranks behind only Red Dooin (1,124) and Bob Boone (1,095) for games caught in club history. Barring an unforeseen development, Lieberthal soon will pass Dooin and Boone, but it is unlikely he'll get beyond 10 opening-day starts with the club.

First the bad news: The Phillies lost another one last night. Now the good news: Only one more day until Curt Schilling pitches again. The sad state of this team's pitching was exposed again as the Padres feasted on Bobby Munoz and others en route to a ridiculously easy 13-3 win at San Diego/Jack Murphy Stadium. Munoz, who had missed most of the last two seasons with a serious elbow injury that required ligament-replacement surgery, was mugged for five runs in the third inning as the Phils lost for the third time in as many nights to fall to 1-3 for the season.

Danny Tartabull couldn't play again last night because of a sore left foot. It's never good when your cleanup man can't answer the bell, but the blow was softened somewhat because manager Terry Francona got the opportunity to play Derrick May, one of the few Phillies swinging the bat well. Hits have been tough to come by for the Phils in the opening week of the season. Before last night's game No. 8 against the Giants at 3Com Park, the Phils had the second-worst batting average in the National League - .184.

Minds raced as Mike Lieberthal's ninth-inning fly ball headed for shallow left field. "We had more things to think about because they were playing so close," said John Vukovich, the Phillies' third-base coach. The final decision was to send Doug Glanville home from third base. Vukovich had been in Philadelphia long enough to know the possible consequences. "If it doesn't work, I get booed," he said. It worked. Glanville, despite a laser throw by San Diego outfielder Eric Owens, slid safely into home plate last night, and the Phillies celebrated their second straight victory, a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Padres at Veterans Stadium.

The Phillies apparently like working the day shift. Righthander Paul Byrd, who may be making the Atlanta Braves regret their decision to place him on waivers in August, pitched eight brilliant innings and was supported by four home runs as the Phillies defeated the San Diego Padres yesterday, 11-1, before an announced crowd of 18,229 at Veterans Stadium. The Phils, for whatever reason, are 6-1 and hitting .311 in day games this season. They are 8-12 and hitting .258 under the lights.

These are the Phillies everyone had expected to see. These are the results: The Phillies beat Atlanta, 8-1, last night at Turner Field to take their second series against the Braves in a week, and their third against them this season. The Phils have won seven of their last nine games and moved to 7 1/2 games behind Atlanta in the National League East. "I don't know where it was or what happened exactly, but to me it was kind of a matter of time before we started playing better," Phillies pitcher Randy Wolf said.

SOMEBODY cue up Kenny Rogers' "Through The Years," while hoping the most successful era of Phillies baseball isn't quite over: 2007 Record: Went 89-73 and won the National League East for the first time since 1993. Synopsis: The season started with Jimmy Rollins' proclamation that the Phillies were the team to beat and closed with Rollins going 2-for-3 with a triple and two stolen bases as the Phils won the division on the final day of the season. Key additions: Jayson Werth, Greg Dobbs, Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero, Tadahito Iguchi, Kyle Lohse.

It's no joke: The Phillies are opening on April 1 this year. It will be the third time the season starts on April Fools' Day, and since that history is mostly recent, it's actually pretty good. Plus, because it's April 1, you certainly can prank the ones you love. First some history, then some foolishness to try at home: April 1, 2011, Phillies' home opener vs. Astros It was the baseball gods playing a prank. It had to be. The Phillies came into 2011 with great promise: The team, two years removed from a World Series win, shockingly reacquired Cliff Lee as a free agent in the offseason.

MIAMI - Fifteen years ago Monday, the Phillies lost for the 58th time in 81 games. Curt Schilling screamed at Mike Lieberthal, first-year manager Terry Francona lashed into his appalling team, and Ricky Bottalico threw a bad pitch. "I'm just stupid," Bottalico said that night. These Phillies are not nearly as dreadful as the 1997 edition, yet it's been 15 years since Philadelphia has seen a worse first half of baseball than this. There was no yelling or screaming Sunday after a 5-2 loss to Miami completed a Marlins sweep and dropped the Phillies to 36-45 and 11 games out of first place.

The Phillies again avoided the tumult that would have accompanied Curt Schilling's selection to the team's Wall of Fame. The Phillies announced that catcher Mike Lieberthal will be enshrined on Aug. 10. The announcement comes on the final day of a series with the Dodgers, the only other team that Lieberthal played for. He is the third catcher among the 34 members, joining Bob Boone and Darren Daulton. "What a tremendous honor it is to be added to the Wall of Fame along with some of the greatest players in Phillies history," Lieberthal, 40, said.

SAN FRANCISCO - Last November, Frank Coppenbarger sent a text message to Pat Burrell. Coppenbarger, the Phillies' longtime director of travel and clubhouse services, floated the idea of Burrell returning to Philadelphia sometime during the 2012 season for a retirement ceremony. Burrell had witnessed similar events for Doug Glanville and Mike Lieberthal. He was intrigued by the idea but unsure whether he wanted the added attention as he adapts to life without the daily routine of baseball.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The six catchers lined up on a back field at the Carpenter Complex and none of them wanted to leave. One by one, they stabbed the bouncing balls hit toward home plate, a drill designed to improve blocking and tagging. It was an elimination game: Last man standing wins. Mick Billmeyer, the team's bullpen coach and catching instructor, slapped a ball that took a wicked bounce over Sebastian Valle's glove. The youngest catcher was the first eliminated. "No!

THE PHILLIES HAVE revealed the 12 names on the Wall of Fame ballot, with Curt Schilling seeming to be the front-runner. Schilling was on the ballot last year in his first year of eligibility, but the selection committee of team executives and media members selected John Kruk. Schilling went 101-78 with a 3.35 ERA in nine seasons in Philadelphia before demanding a trade and winning World Series titles in Arizona and Boston. His numbers, however, are impressive: sixth in wins, eighth in innings (1,659 1/3)

IMAGINE A PHILLIES team with two star lefthanded starting pitchers, arguably the best righthanded starter in major league baseball, an emerging rookie ace, and a lineup capable of putting a crooked number on the board a couple of times a night. That's this team, right? Right. But it was a trade-deadline deal short of being the 1993 Phillies, John Kruk says, if the organization's current aggressive philosophy was the philosophy back then. "If you remember the trade deadline, we had a chance to get Randy Johnson and they didn't want to give up, I think, Mike Lieberthal," the Krukker was saying yesterday.

BOB STUMPO grew up cheering for names that are quite familiar in these parts. He mentions such favorite players as Chase Utley, Jim Thome, Mike Lieberthal . . . Hey, why not? Stumpo grew up in Wilmington. Mom and Dad got Phillies season tickets every year. He went to Salesianum High School and took his baseball talents to nearby West Chester University. He starred as a catcher for the Golden Rams and was good enough to get picked in the 33rd round of the 2010 draft by . . . you guessed it, the Phillies.

It is here. Finally. The most eagerly anticipated ride in the history of Philadelphia sports starts now, as the 2011 Phillies start reporting to work (officially) in Clearwater, Fla. Never has a Philly team begun its season with as much positive energy and pure enthusiasm as this one. If there's a trace of our historic sense of impending doom, good luck finding it. The city Murphy surely had in mind when formulating his infamous Law is all in with this club to an unprecedented degree.