Mitch Williams

Mitch Williams has been hired by the MLB Network, which goes on the air tomorrow in 50 million homes. The former Phillies relief pitcher will be a studio analyst and will appear on "MLB Tonight," a live, nightly studio show and "Hot Stove," a live, nightly offseason studio show. "Mitch's unique voice and perspective speaks for itself," MLB Network president and chief executive officer Tony Petitti said. Last season, Williams, 44, was the postgame analyst on Comcast SportsNet's "Phillies Post Game Live.

A graduate from the Mitch Williams school of pitching and managing is in the Phillies camp. Lefthander Jim Crowell opened last season with the Atlantic City Surf of the independent Atlantic League. That is the team that hired Williams to be its pitching coach three years ago, then elevated him to the job of manager in the middle of last season. "Mitch knows how to motivate people to get the most out of them," Crowell said after the Phillies finished their workout yesterday at the Carpenter Complex.

Mitch Williams wants to be a Phillie again. "I'm here because this is where I want to play," Williams said yesterday in a conference call from Clearwater, Fla., where he will begin what he hopes is his comeback. "I want to play in Philadelphia. My whole purpose is to make it back there. "I ain't coming back to pitch in A ball. " Phillies general manager Lee Thomas made it clear that he had agreed to sign Williams to a minor-league contract as a favor. If Williams shows that his fastball is back, Thomas said, he might be able to return to the major leagues.

Houston Astros reliever Mitch Williams, who was acquired from the Phillies in the off-season, will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee next week in Orlando, the team said yesterday. Trainer Dave Labossiere said Williams was examined Tuesday by physicians, who found a torn cartilage. Williams will take his scheduled pitching turns through Sunday and undergo the outpatient surgery on Monday. The Astros said Williams likely would be sidelined three days, but should be ready to pitch March 19-20 when the Astros return to Houston for exhibition games against Texas.

He is wild, erratic and maddeningly frustrating. Still, Mitch Williams remains one of the indispensable Phillies. Without him, this club with preseason pretensions is without a closer. Which is why his spring struggles are a matter of private concern among Phils officials. Hoping that Williams' fastball will return with more work, Phils manager Jim Fregosi dispatched his closer to the minor-league complex yesterday for some work. "We wanted him to get some innings in. He threw all right," said the manager - "all right" being a couple of notches down in Fregosi-speak from the ultimate pitching compliment, "extremely well.

It will be a spring training game much like any other this afternoon at Jack Russell Stadium. The fences will have colorful advertising painted on the front and palm trees visible behind. Pitchers will run in the outfield during the game. The stadium will be small and friendly and smell of sunscreen. Mitch Williams would have you believe that the one inning he'll pitch later today is just another tuneup exhibition outing, nothing more and nothing less. And Mitch Williams would be kidding you. The extra large grin and the twinkle in his eye give him away.

He's on your radio. He's on your television, too. He will come to your event, provided he can find a spot in a schedule that is already loaded with golf tournaments. You love Mitch Williams, I love Mitch Williams, just about everybody in the Delaware Valley loves Mitch Williams. And, well, how crazy is that? "It's incredible," Angelo Cataldi said after Williams made his official debut on WIP's morning show yesterday. "Now that I am working with him, I can see how it happened.

Kindly baseball scout Hank King sits quietly at a locker and does not see the unshaven, scraggly culprit creeping behind him, a white kerchief wrapped around his head, a bat in his hand. Suddenly, with the speed of a fastball, the stalking ninja slams the bat into a metal trash can a few inches from King's ear. And the scout tumbles from the bench, a look of terror on his face. "Damn," laughs the perpetrator, Mitch Williams, "that was a good one. " He is the flaky, lefthanded relief pitcher incarnate.

Mitch Williams, the former Phillies reliever who was released by the Houston Astros on May 31, has agreed to a non-guaranteed contract with the California Angels, the team said yesterday. Williams, known as "Wild Thing" because of control problems throughout his career, was 1-4 with six saves and a 7.65 ERA in 25 appearances with the Astros. Pitching for the Phillies, Williams, 30, allowed a three-run, game-winning home run by Toronto's Joe Carter in the sixth and final game of the 1993 World Series.

Maybe there were just too many walks or blown saves associated with the old one. Maybe No. 28 was simply too prosaic for his high-speed personality. Whatever the reason, Mitch Williams started the 1993 baseball season last night wearing No. 99 on his back. "I've been bugging them about getting this number for years," Williams said before last night's Phillies-Astros opener. "They kept telling me no. They finally gave in. " One can only imagine the amount of pleading and cajoling Lee Thomas had to withstand.

Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay denounced critical comments about Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee made by former Phillies reliever and current MLB Network analyst Mitch Williams. In a Friday radio interview on WIP-FM (94.1), Williams said the Phillies need a new pitching coach. "It is not personal," Williams said. "I think these pitchers have to hear something new. " The Phillies have struggled not only in pitching but all facets of the game. They entered Friday 26th in the major leagues with a 4.42 ERA. Halladay, one of the pitchers that Williams suggested hasn't been helped by Dubee, talked to reporters before Friday's game at Citizens Bank Park against the Miami Marlins.

Ryan Howard sometimes only gets 1 day off each month during the regular season, but yesterday afternoon, the Phillies slugger made good use of it. Despite some inclement weather, Howard made a special guest appearance at Glen Mills High School to participate in Powerade's Coach for a Day program hosted by the All-Star Baseball Academy, a private traveling team for local boys. The All-Star first baseman spent the afternoon speaking to kids about how to achieve their childhood aspirations, on and off the field.

With his Lugz work boots and T-shirt with the sleeves cut off, Mitch Williams looked like a construction guy. Turns out he is. "My father taught me, you never pay someone to do something you can do yourself," the legendary Phillies closer said. Hard to believe, but one of the living symbols of Philadelphia sports history was only a small part of the package when cable's DIY channel came to town to shoot an episode of House Crashers that will be seen in the fall. As crazy construction and reality television swirled all around last week, Wild Thing was anything but. He lent a hand wherever needed, working to transform part of the home of Johnny McDonald, whom the show had decided was one of the world's biggest Phillies fans, into the ultimate baseball spectator environment.

START WITH THIS: Baseball nut John Shiffert, a native Philadelphian, Society for American Baseball Research member and author of three baseball books, set about earlier this season to identify the best Phillie of all time at each position. His conclusion: Ryan Howard by a nose over . . . John Kruk. So this week's announcement that the Krukker will become the latest to have a plaque hung on the Wall of Honor in Ashburn Alley is clearly based on solid, on-the-field achievements.

For the second year in a row, the Phillies will induct a member of the 1993 National League champions into the team's Wall of Fame. John Kruk is the newest member, the team announced Wednesday. He will be honored before the Aug. 12 game against Washington. He follows Darren Daulton, who was honored last season. They are the only two players from the '93 team to make the wall. So which other players from that beloved squad will be honored? There's Curt Schilling, who is all but a shoo-in.

SEACAUCUS, N.J. - More than 17 years after he gave up the home run that ended an improbable 1993 season, along with his Phillies career, lefthander Mitch Williams has a major regret - the slide step. Williams ensured his spot in baseball history - and his exit from Philadelphia - after surrendering the Series-clinching three-run home run to Joe Carter that earned the Blue Jays their second consecutive World Series title. According to Williams, the first time he used the slide step while pitching out of the stretch came after Rickey Henderson led off that fateful ninth inning with a walk.

So yet another Phillies postseason gets started this week. (Raise your hand if you never expected to read that phrase in your lifetime.) And to paraphrase Roy Halladay, who will be participating in his first, they get "funner" every year. Anyway, before the drama gets gripping, the remotes stop flipping, the hearts start skipping, and the fans start sipping, it might be a good time to take a "funner" look at the Phillies' October (and last year, November) history. Phils postseason trivia 1. Who was the first Phils pitcher on the mound in Game 3 of the 2008 World Series?

DARREN Daulton's induction into the Phillies' Hall of Fame a couple of Fridays ago brought back some wonderful memories of the 1993 pennant-winners and their long-haired, trash-talking Macho Row. Daulton, Lenny Dykstra, John Kruk, Mitch Williams and Dave Hollins were the swaggering nucleus of the '93 Phillies. Cut from the same blue-collar mold as the fans, they were diehards who functioned in a black-and-white world of heroes and bums. While those players weren't nearly as talented as either the 1980 or 2008 world champions, they were beloved because they were throwbacks who hung out with the fans after games and showed their humanity - warts and all. That's why I'm glad some of them are back in town.

Retired Phillies Mike Lieberthal and Kevin Stocker , visiting for the Phillies alumni weekend, went bowling Sunday night at Lucky Strike, the alley on Chestnut Street near Broad. Stocker and his wife, Brooke , who live in Spokane, Wash., got the urge to sing karaoke, and they moved the party to the nearby McGillin's Olde Ale House. The Stockers performed a fine version of "Wild Thing" - perhaps in tribute to pitcher Mitch Williams , who played with Stocker on the 1993 World Series team.

A book review Tuesday of Straight Talk From Wild Thing had the wrong name for one of pitcher Mitch Williams' managers, Don Zimmer. The Inquirer wants its news report to be fair and correct in every respect, and regrets when it is not. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, contact assistant managing editor David Sullivan (215-854-2357) at The Inquirer, Box 8263, Philadelphia 19101, or e-mail dsullivan@phillynews.com .