Phillies

PHOENIX - After pitching in three of the previous four games, Mike Adams didn't warm up on Saturday, when fellow reliever Jonathan Papelbon pitched a five-out save. Yesterday, Adams wasn't available again. But this time it wasn't related to his workload. Adams is day-to-day with back spasms. The veteran set-up man said he first felt them while shagging in the outfield during batting practice before yesterday's game. "I felt it right at the end of BP . . . the last 5 minutes of BP it grabbed me," Adams said.

By Jun-Youb "JY" Lee A recent gala headlined by John Legend celebrated the University of Pennsylvania's exceeding its $3.5 billion fund-raising goal by $800 million. But only blocks away, University City High School students quietly emptied their lockers following the Philadelphia School Reform Commission decision to close their school and 22 others to cover a $300 million budget deficit. It's ironic that a university can raise $4.3 billion during its five-year campaign, yet an entire city can't raise $300 million for its schoolchildren.

We just had quite a Poetry Month of April in the Philadelphia region. And here to prove it - and to make any reader very happy - are six books by local poets. Daniel Hoffman died on March 30, days short of his 90th birthday. His new book of poems, Next to Last Words (Louisiana State University Press, 88 pp., $16.95), shows how vigorous his work remained right to the moment. Formal, classical, clever, Hoffman is also characteristically, in a hard-won fashion, affirmative, as in "Spring": All the holes In hollow trees And crevices   beneath the eaves are teeming now with snouts   of small squirrels and the imperative craws of featherless   starlings ready ready ready to devour devour devour devour the world.

PHOENIX - The decision was made long before Tyler Cloyd allowed just two runs in 6 1/3 innings and pitched well enough to win Friday's 3-2 Phillies loss. Reliever Justin De Fratus was put on a cross-country flight to Arizona prior to the start of the game. "They told me no matter what happened they were going to send me down," Cloyd said. The Phillies do not need a fifth starter until May 21. They can go two turns through the rotation without one because of two off days next week.

As a young girl growing up in Long Beach, Calif., I was fortunate to have access to public tennis courts. The opportunities for free instruction and available court time made a huge difference in my life and career. And I wasn't alone. Chris Evert, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, and so many great players from tennis got their start in a public park program. So, yes, the protection and the future of our public parks are near and dear to me. Programs like LOVE Your Park Week here in Philadelphia need our support and our attention.

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.

ALLENTOWN - It wasn't the most macho confession, but Dave Brundage has too much experience with the damage that can be done by a batted baseball to care. Like everyone else who saw the video footage from Tuesday night's game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays, Brundage cringed in horror as former Phillies pitcher J.A. Happ lay writhing in pain on the mound at Tropicana Field after being struck just above the left ear by a Desmond Jennings line drive. Brundage, 48, in his first year as manager of the Phillies' triple-A Lehigh Valley affiliate after spending six seasons in the same role with the Atlanta Braves, openly admits to being afraid of line drives bearing down on him while coaching third base or even just standing in the dugout.

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.

It should have been an awkward moment. The king and queen of Sweden stood Friday afternoon in Independence Hall as a National Park Service ranger described the tyrannies of King George III of Britain, and the work of patriots who shucked off a monarch. But the royals nodded and smiled as they stood steps from where the colonists shed a king, gracious and polite. What do you call a king standing in a room where aristocracy was famously shunned? "Irony," Park Service superintendent Cynthia MacLeod later said.