Phillies

A CROSSROADS is no place to get sentimental, and the Phillies have the mother of all of them looming on the horizon. Forget about whether they can claw their way back into contention. What happens on the field over the next couple of months will have little impact on the dire situation that will greet them come November, when they will no longer have three of their most productive hitters in the order under contract. Second base, third base and catcher: Good luck filling them.

PHOENIX - Jimmy Rollins never shed his batting gloves. With the tying run 90 feet away, he tapped one to first base that sealed a 3-2 Phillies loss. Rollins retreated to the clubhouse with the rest of his downtrodden teammates and went straight to one of the five laptops in the middle of the room. For 16 minutes, Rollins watched. Dressed in full uniform, he moved the mouse with his right glove. He tapped on the keyboard with his left glove. He stood up, pretended to swing, and pulled off his No. 11 jersey.

SAN FRANCISCO - If it wasn't for Hunter Pence, Cliff Lee may have very well shut out the San Francisco Giants on Monday night. In his first game against his former team, Pence tried to be a one-man wrecking ball in the Giants' lineup. He homered in his first at-bat and attempted to start a rally with an eighth-inning, leadoff double in his last at-bat. He went 3-for-3 and scored the only two runs San Francisco scored in a 6-2 defeat to the Phillies. "He looked good," manager Charlie Manuel said yesterday afternoon at AT&T Park.

This week's opening of the film 42 , on Jackie Robinson's integration of baseball, brings to mind the dramatic role played by Philadelphia in this seminal event in America's civil rights history. Robinson's integration of Major League Baseball during the 1947 season was revolutionary. The game had been segregated since the 1880s, reflecting the isolation of African Americans in the nation. Even in the years after World War II, America remained a segregated society, with African Americans, save for some entertainers and athletes like Joe Louis, largely invisible.

The storm clouds gathered early last March. Ryan Howard was fielding ground balls on a stool. Chase Utley was conspicuously absent from Grapefruit League games. Roy Halladay's velocity was down. The Phillies had no obvious leftfielder, no veteran setup man, and an aging third baseman who had struggled to stay on the field the previous season. The fan base was understandably nervous. My answer to all who asked: It wouldn't surprise me if this team won 100 games, and it wouldn't surprise me if it lost 80. This year, the answer is the same, minus the 100 wins part.

Danny Brown had it made. The foul-mouthed Detroit rapper won acclaim from Spin, which named his XXX the best hip-hop album of 2011. MTV.com called him one of rap's standouts. And he got a number of click-to-pick mentions for his forthcoming album, Old . With his naughty lyrics, throaty yowl, and love of electronics on the house and techno tip, his creds were strong. Brown needed no headlines, then, to pack the Theatre of Living Arts on Wednesday; it would have been a hot ticket no matter what.

LOS ANGELES - One working definition of a nanosecond is the interval between a team clinching a playoff and somebody observing, "You can throw everything that happened during the regular season out the window. " That's always comforting to the club that came out on the short end against the opponent it's about to face, and there is plenty of evidence suggesting that past isn't necessarily prelude when it comes to games in October, compared with those earlier on the calendar. Still, it's not entirely true.

PHOENIX — Every Phillies hitter had to pass Charlie Manuel before stepping into the on-deck circle Saturday. The manager positioned himself at the top of the dugout steps for the entirety of a 3-1 victory over Arizona. He talked strategy with Michael Young. He patted Ryan Howard on the back. He shook his head, slammed his fists together, and watched more offensive futility. "I was thinking there during the game," Manuel said. "We have 125 games left. We're going to hit. " On this night, three runs patched together by walks, singles, stolen bases, wild pitches, and sacrifices were enough despite 11 stranded runners.

The next time Domonic Brown hits a home run, he will achieve a career high in that department. In his limited playing time in 2011 and 2012, the Phillies outfielder hit five home runs each year. He got to that number a lot quicker this season, driving the ball out of the park in the first two games of the weekend series with the Miami Marlins to reach five in 97 at-bats. If he continues on his current pace, he will flirt with hitting 30 home runs this season. "I don't think that's out of the realm," manager Charlie Manuel said before Saturday night's game against the Marlins.

Nearly 30 years ago, a 6-foot-4 righthanded pitcher got a call to the big leagues from the Minnesota Twins. Johnny Podres, the Twins' pitching coach, offered some simple advice. "I thought he might pull me aside and tell me how to work a certain hitter," Jay Pettibone said as he recalled the details of his big-league debut. "But, no, he just encouraged me to have a good time and enjoy the moment. He said, 'You worked hard to get here, so go out and have fun.' " It turned out to be great advice.

"NOW that I'm back, forget about the other chicks. You won't miss 'em," vows hip-hop veteran Eve on one of the tougher-minded tracks from "Lip Lock. " Confidence becomes the rapper. Hitting stores and download sites today, this return to music has been only 11 years in the making and waiting (and then remaking) from the Philly-formed star who also answers to the name Eve Jihan Jeffers. That's like three career lifetimes in music, she agreed. Which raises the question: Do they still need her, will anyone still love her, when she's 34?

PHOENIX - The Phillies won but Charlie Manuel was distracted. He uncapped a blue marker and doodled on his worn lineup card late Saturday night in the desert. He never lifted his head when asked about his hitters' finally executing in key situations to snap a three-game losing skid. The 69-year-old manager mumbled. He repeated a message heard so frequently in the last 13 months, and his plodding tone suggested that even Manuel had doubts about it. "We don't need to get down and everything," Manuel said.

CHANGES ARRIVED for the struggling Phillies offense more than 2 weeks ago, when Carlos Ruiz' suspension ended and Delmon Young was activated off the disabled list in the span of 48 hours. The Phillies' rotation has also undergone a makeover, albeit one they rather would have avoided. John Lannan and Roy Halladay were both placed on the DL with Jonathan Pettibone and Tyler Cloyd taking their respective spots in the starting five. But the one area that the Phillies haven't addressed is one that's been a problem spot for a good chunk of the first 6 weeks.

Just as voters find it hard to muster enthusiasm for local elections in the year after a presidential election, shareholder activists seem to be subdued in the current annual shareholder meeting season. The meeting that tends to attract the most attention locally is Comcast Corp. The Center City-based cable TV and Internet service provider will hold its meeting in the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts at 9 a.m. Wednesday. But this year's proxy statement contains just two shareholder-sponsored proposals, compared with four in 2012.

FIFTH STARTER. Fifth of five. That was supposed to be Jonathan Pettibone's job while John Lannan found himself on the disabled list. It is a job with low expectations and, simultaneously, with real meaning - especially for a team like the Phillies, a team that has had so much trouble generating consistent offense and that has been underwater in the standings for weeks. Pettibone arrived unheralded. No one knew what to expect, not really. When he pitched well in his first game, the Phillies were not even ready to acknowledge immediately that he would get a second start.

JUSTIN DE FRATUS is a guy who knows he might be one pitch away from the minors, and Mark Reynolds is a guy who is tied for the American League lead with 11 home runs, and when the two men faced each other last night, one represented the go-ahead run and one represented his team's chance at preventing it. But De Fratus knew what needed to be done, and he did it by throwing the exact pitch he knew Reynolds would be looking for: a 92-mph fastball in...

IT WAS AN opportunity, not a necessity. That's what Charlie Manuel said of his decision to keep Chase Utley out of the lineup last night, despite the fact that the Phillies were coming off an off day and would enjoy another one tomorrow. With lefty Scott Kazmir on the mound and a day game today, Manuel decided that he would take advantage of the opportunity to get his 34-year-old second baseman 3 days of rest in a 4-day span. "I saw that it was an opportunity to kind of give him a blow," said Manuel, adding that the chance to "monitor him" and "get him off his feet" would be "good" for his star.

By Matthew Perks What do Philadelphians really want from their parks and recreation facilities? While new play equipment, benches, and ball fields are usually on the wish list at public hearings and budget negotiations, Philadelphians first and foremost want parks and recreation facilities that are "safe for me and my family. " Every day, thousands of people enjoy our city's parks and facilities without incident, from Rittenhouse Square to the hidden paths of Pennypack Park. They form an integral part of the fabric that does so much to enrich the quality of urban life.

How do you blame a city for lying to taxpayers and bond buyers about its sad financial shape - without also blaming its mayor, or its finance officers, or any of the paid lawyers, bankers, and advisers who helped tell the lies? That's what the Securities and Exchange Commission did last week when it busted Pennsylvania's capital city, Harrisburg, for lying about its financial condition from 2008 to 2012, after it borrowed too much and started going broke. The SEC settled the case.

The Phillies insisted before the game that revenge wasn't the motive, only the chance to get closer to .500. Afterward, Kevin Frandsen admitted that consecutive routs in Cleveland two weeks ago served as a motivating force. After being outscored by 20-2 by the Indians in two games, the Phillies earned revenge on Tuesday night with a 6-2 win at Citizens Bank Park. "They kicked our butt [in Cleveland] and I hope the guys would realize that and I feel like we did," said Frandsen, who got the Phillies going with a solo home run in the first inning.