Press Box

A report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch yesterday said that the Cardinals were upset with a scoring decision that was changed after the Phillies' 7-2 win Thursday afternoon that turned a David Freese triple into a three-base error on Jayson Werth. Not only did the decision, made well after the play occurred in the second inning, remove an earned run from Roy Halladay's ERA, it stopped Freese's hitting streak at nine games. The original decision by official scorer Jay Dunn was subject to plenty of scrutiny throughout the game - several Phillies officials were spotted talking with Dunn - and Werth himself placed a call to the press box to claim culpability.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel will not manage Saturday's game against Atlanta in order to attend to a personal matter, a team official said Friday. It is just the second time Manuel, who is in his sixth season as manager, will miss a regular-season Phillies game. Bench coach Pete Mackanin will manage the team in Manuel's absence. Manuel, 66, said the personal matter is not related to his own health. Since spring training began, Manuel has constantly said he has more energy after losing nearly 50 pounds in the last year.

It is March 5 of last year, and the Phillies are playing an exhibition game against the World Baseball Classic?s Team USA at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. As it always does in spring training, the Phils? clubhouse opens in the middle innings of the game, and I wander down from the press box. Their locker room is in deep left field, and writers are permitted to stand outside of it, in foul territory, during games. After strolling through the room and saying hello to Scott Eyre and his son, who are leaning on a tall laundry basket and talking pitching, I exit onto the field, stand a few feet from the white line, and watch one grounder after another elude Derek Jeter at shortstop.

FOR THE SECOND time in 3 decades, Temple is playing in a bowl game. And for the second time in 30 years, the Owls will be playing within a bus ride of Philadelphia against a Pac-10 opponent. Today in the nation's capital, Al Golden's 9-3 team will face 6-6 UCLA in the second EagleBank Bowl at RFK Stadium. In 1979, it was a 9-2 Wayne Hardin squad taking on 6-5 California in the second Garden State Bowl at Giants Stadium. These Owls aren't favored. Back then they were also a slight underdog.

Wesley College is the nation's fifth-ranked NCAA Division III team, according to D3football.com. The Wolverines' offense has been unstoppable. And their defense has surrendered just three points through two games. But . . . "We are not intimidated [by] Wesley," said Delaware Valley coach Jim Clements, whose squad will play host to the Wolverines at 1 p.m. Saturday at James Work Memorial Stadium. "We know what we are in for," Clements added. "Our kids are psyched. We just can't make any mistakes.

Detroit Tigers closer Fernando Rodney has been suspended for three games and fined for throwing a ball toward the stands following a game last week. The penalty, announced yesterday by baseball vice president for discipline Bob Watson, comes after Rodney threw a ball toward the seats and into the press box at Tropicana Field following Detroit's 4-3 win at Tampa Bay on Friday. No one was hit by the ball and Rodney said afterward that he was throwing it to the fans. Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said Rodney will appeal the suspension.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Joe Paterno broke into a jog as he emerged from the tunnel at the south end of Beaver Stadium when Penn State took the field yesterday. But he didn't stop after 5 yards, or 10. The 82-year-old coach actually made it to the 40-yard line before he slowed to a walk, and headed toward the sideline for the first time since undergoing hip-replacement surgery last November. "Did you clock me for the 100 meters?" the coach asked with a smile. "I don't think that kid from Jamaica [Usain Bolt]

Except for family, that three-word appendage to my name is really all I ever wanted. Oh, it could have been Evening Bulletin staff writer or Daily News staff writer , but as long as I was writing about sports in my hometown, I knew life was going to be good. This is no farewell. I'll be here as long as they'll have me. But these are tough times in our business, and every once in a while you need to convince yourself it's all been worthwhile. Last weekend, I met with two old childhood friends, one of whom I hadn't seen since that sultry afternoon in 1964 when Jim Bunning pitched his perfect game.

And for hours, they kept arriving. They came before dawn, through the bright morning, and until just past noon, a seemingly endless red river that formed outside the third-base gate, flowed into the stadium, across the field, and back into the first-base stands. The mourners passed the casket at a rate of more than 25 per minute for more than five hours. The Phillies estimated that about 9,000 fans filed through the gates. They reached out to touch the closed white coffin that bore the remains of broadcaster Harry Kalas yesterday, letting their hands slide along its smooth surface as they passed.

WASHINGTON - Legendary Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas has died. He was 73. "We lost our voice today," team president David Montgomery said. "He knows the game and made a tremendous contribution to the sport and to our organization . . .  "Anybody who has played for us, it's an immediate point of connection with the club. He is the Phillies. " The Phillies were told the news at 1:20 p.m. Montgomery described the team as "stunned. " Kalas collapsed in the press box and was was found at about 12:30 p.m. by Rob Brooks, the Phillies' director of broadcasting.