Minor League

SEATTLE - Jeff Datz, the Seattle Mariners third-base coach and a graduate of Clearview High in Gloucester County and Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) is completing his 11th season as a major-league coach, and he says he never takes a day for granted. Nor will Datz forget the person who opened the gate to the big leagues. "I will forever be grateful to Charlie Manuel," Datz said about the Phillies manager in an interview last month at Safeco Field. "He gave me the opportunity to coach in the big leagues.

Without fanfare or ceremony, the Phillies broke the news with a bloodless release. Outfielder Dale Murphy and pitcher Ken Howell have signed Triple A minor league contracts (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre roster), but will be invited to spring training with the major league club. This is what it has come to for Murphy, twice the National League's Most Valuable Player, a possible future Hall of Famer. Murphy, who will play at age 37 next season, was limited to 18 games for the Phillies last season by a series of procedures on his left knee.

HERE'S AN update of the Phillies' minor league affiliates and where they stand in playoff possibilities: The Triple A Lehigh Valley IronPigs are 76-60 with eight games remaining. They trail Pawtucket (76-58) by a game for the North Division lead and lead Gwinnett (74-61) by 1 games for the wild-card spot. The Double A Reading Phillies are 68-66 with eight games remaining. They trail New Hampshire (71-63) by three games and New Britain (68-65) by a half-game in the Eastern Division.

Much-traveled outfielder Karim Garcia, who has played for seven other major-league teams, signed a minor-league contract with the Phillies yesterday. The three-time minor-league all-star has been invited to spring training. The 31-year-old spent the last two seasons with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan's Pacific League, hitting a combined .281 with 34 home runs. Garcia has played almost 500 major-league games with Los Angeles, Arizona, Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland and both New York clubs.

Former Phillies outfielder Pete Incaviglia, 37, who hasn't played in the major leagues since 1998, agreed to a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres yesterday. His deal does not include an invitation to training camp with the big-league club. Incaviglia played for Newark, of the independent Atlantic League, last year, batting .353 with nine home runs and 43 RBI in 50 games. In other baseball news: Infielder Mike Lansing, who played for Boston last season, agreed to a minor league contract with Cleveland.

Phillies general manager Lee Thomas has been looking for a director of player development since he reassigned Lance Nichols to the scouting department July 18. He considered people from around baseball. And yesterday he found his man right in the Phillies organization. The new farm director is Del Unser, former Phillies player, hitting coach and, most recently, minor league hitting instructor. Thomas said he had briefly considered Unser last year before hiring Nichols.

Baseball has banned players with minor league contracts from taking ephedra, the substance linked to the death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler. The decision was made Monday by commissioner Bud Selig and transmitted to the teams in a memorandum by Jennifer Gefsky, a lawyer in the labor relations department of the commissioner's office. Players on 40-man major league rosters, including those on option to minor league teams, are not covered by the decision because they are members of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Pamela Davis, with fans chanting her name and forcing her to take a curtain call, pitched one inning of scoreless relief last night and got the win in a minor league exhibition game in Jacksonville, Fla. She is believed to be the first woman to pitch for a major league farm club under the current structure of the minor league system. Davis, a 21-year-old starter with the Colorado Silver Bullets women's baseball team, pitched for the Jacksonville Suns, a Double A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, against the Australian Olympic team.

Inside the locker room of the Phillies' minor league complex, Norm Charlton was lamenting some innocence lost. "You see it on the kids' faces," the Phillies' rehabbing reliever said. "They're walking around two days ago, happy-go-lucky. Now they're just sitting there and thinking. " There has been a dilemma facing at least seven Phillies minor leaguers over the last two days, and probably more to follow. Offered jobs as replacement players on Wednesday, the players had until yesterday to accept them.

The Phillies have made their first foray into the rapidly expanding Japanese market, signing lefthander Tomoyuki Uchiyama to a minor league contract with an invitation to the big league camp. Acting general manager Ed Wade admitted the team's scouting report on Uchiyama is sketchy at best. "We understand that his fastball is 90 mph and that he also throws a split-finger fastball and a slider," Wade said. "He has spent his entire career in middle relief. " The 29-year-old Uchiyama has played six years in Japan, the first two seasons for the Seibu Lions and since 1994 with the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks.

THE TAMPA BAY Lightning hired Jon Cooper as their new coach on Monday. Cooper had been coaching Syracuse of the AHL, Tampa Bay's top minor league affiliate. He is replacing Guy Boucher, who was fired Sunday after 2 1/2 years with the team. "He has had success at every level he has coached and is extremely familiar with our organization, as well as our players," Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman said in a statement. "He has a tremendous record at all levels and we feel he is ready to make the move to the NHL. " The Lightning, at 13-18-1, are in next to last place in the Eastern Conference and appear headed to missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

NEW YORK Yankees captain Derek Jeter is resigned to starting the season on the disabled list for the first time since 2001. Jeter is undergoing treatment for his sore left ankle, still recovering from surgery last October. His last game action came as a designated hitter Saturday in a minor league exhibition. "Of course, it's disappointing," Jeter said Tuesday. "I told you guys all along the goal was to be ready on Opening Day, and I didn't reach it. I ran out of days. I pushed to try to get there opening day, and it didn't work out. But I've still got to be ready for the majority of the season.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Kyle Kendrick was pitching in a minor league game in the last week of March. This year, that is a good thing. Kendrick, who has spent most of the last 4 years in a swing role that has sometimes left him on the precipice of the minor leagues, wrapped up a strong spring training on Monday afternoon. He allowed five earned runs, while surrendering three home runs on a windy day, but he struck out eight and walked only one, and afterward was pleased with his preparation for the regular season.

Derek Jeter will likely join Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson on the New York Yankees' star-studded disabled list for the season opener against the Boston Red Sox on April 1. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says it's "more likely than not" Jeter will start on the DL because of a sore left ankle, still recovering from surgery last October. Eduardo Nunez, known for his bat more than his glove, would fill in at shortstop for the 13-time all-star, who broke the ankle Oct. 13 during the AL Championship Series opener against Detroit and had surgery a week later.

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.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - When Adam Morgan was 16, he had a chance to pitch to current Braves star Jason Heyward when the two played on the same travel team. "I got ahead of him, I remember, two strikes, and then that next pitch I tried to hump up and blow one by him," Morgan recalled, "and it went off the centerfield wall. " Morgan did not get a chance to face Heyward on Friday, but he did have plenty of success against his Atlanta teammates, holding the Braves to one run in 4 2/3 innings after the Phillies recalled him from minor league camp for a spot start.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Five miles away from Bright House Field, Delmon Young made his first exhibition appearance Friday in a Phillies uniform. Playing at the Toronto Blue Jays' minor-league complex in Dunedin, Young went 1 for 4 with a solo home run against R.A. Dickey, the 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner who was traded by the New York Mets during the offseason. "It was good to go out there and actually do something outside of batting practice and watch a game for five innings," Young said.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Darin Ruf's road to the big leagues took a detour Friday, but only after he showed once again why he was here in the first place. The 26-year-old slugger stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning and launched a long walk-off home run to left field, giving the Phillies a 7-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves. As he crossed home plate, Ruf was swarmed by his teammates in what was unquestionably the best moment of his often difficult spring training.

DODGERS SHORTSTOP Hanley Ramirez is scheduled to undergo surgery Friday on his injured right thumb and is expected to be sidelined for 8 weeks. The Dodgers said Thursday that an MRI indicated a ligament in Ramirez's thumb was torn. Ramirez suffered the injury Tuesday night while playing for the Dominican Republic in its victory over Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic championship game in San Francisco. Ramirez was at third base when he suffered the injury. The Dodgers moved him to shortstop, his original position, after obtaining him from the Miami Marlins on July 25. Dr. Steve Shin, a sports-medicine hand specialist, is scheduled to perform the surgery in Los Angeles.