Rich Dubee

The Phillies speak highly of Carlos Ruiz's defense, but The Fielding Bible does not. The recently published second edition of John Dewan's book, widely praised as a breakthrough in evaluating defense, ranked Ruiz toward the bottom of major-league catchers last season. Dewan acknowledged that catching defense is among the most difficult elements of baseball to quantify. "We're just taking our first steps in figuring out how catchers can handle pitchers," Dewan said. "We're just starting to get a handle on that.

7:05 p.m., Citzens Bank Park. TV: Channel 17. Radio: WPHT (1210-AM), WUBA (1480) Spanish. Pitching matchup: RHP Vance Worley (8-1, 2.76) vs. LHP Jonathon Niese (11-10, 4.05) WORLEY vs. METS: A 2-hour-plus rain delay ended Worley's last start after three scoreless innings, preventing him from completely rebounding from a tough outing vs. the Dodgers 8 days before. Worley has faced the Mets three times this season, allowing one run in 11 1/3 innings in two starts and eight runs in three innings in the other.

SAN DIEGO - For four days, Jose Contreras waited. It had been since last June when the 40-year-old Cuban pitched in a major-league game. He rejoined the Phillies on this road trip but work was difficult to come by. Finally, he was called upon in the seventh inning of Friday's game just after the Phillies had taken their first lead. He began his 10th season with four balls. "Ideally, you'd like a better spot," pitching coach Rich Dubee said. "But when push comes to shove, you have to get him in some games.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - In what could be his final season as a Phillie, Cole Hamels will start the team's home opener, April 9 at Citizens Bank Park. Roy Halladay, as expected, will start opening day, April 5, in Pittsburgh, pitching coach Rich Dubee announced Friday. Halladay will be followed by Cliff Lee and Vance Worley. It's also likely Joe Blanton is skipped the first time through the rotation. Last season, Hamels started the fourth game, too. But with the departure of Roy Oswalt, he was assumed to take the third spot in the rotation.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Roy Halladay threw his regular, in-between-starts bullpen session Wednesday while the vast majority of the Phillies enjoyed a rare day off. It was the first time Halladay took the mound since departing his start Sunday with a stomach illness after just one inning. Halladay said he lost about 10 pounds as a result of the bug, which sapped him of energy and strength before he resumed baseball activities Tuesday. On Wednesday, pitching coach Rich Dubee watched the two-time Cy Young Award winner's mound session.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Morning bled into afternoon Wednesday, and Roy Halladay worked in an empty weight room at Bright House Field. This was a scheduled day off for his teammates. But after a stomach virus robbed Halladay of strength and mound time, there was no rest. Halladay wants to start the second game of the 2013 season on April 3. He threw a bullpen session Wednesday morning. He will start a minor-league game Saturday in Clearwater rather than appear in the Grapefruit League game in Sarasota that day. With less than two weeks until meaningful baseball, the Phillies are easing Halladay along.

Rich Dubee is working with a decked filled with aces this season as the Phillies' pitching coach, but on Tuesday, a Boston Herald reporter wanted to know what it was like dealing with Red Sox ace Josh Beckett when he was just a rookie in the Florida Marlins' farm system. "The first time I met Josh was in the Astrodome," Dubee said. "I remember he had just signed and he came through the clubhouse doors and Alex Fernandez was on our team and Josh had made the statement about pitching in the All-Star Game in two years.

One man with a belief is worth 99 with an opinion. Though everyone in the game of baseball has an opinion, the opinions of others should be of no concern to the pitcher. What should matter to him is what he thinks of himself and what he knows about pitching: his belief system. If he doesn't have one, he'd better develop it. - H.A. Dorfman, The Mental ABC's of Pitching The first chapter in Roy Halladay's bible, fittingly, is titled "Adjustments. " This is the book that once saved his career, the book Brandy Halladay bought for her husband 13 years ago, when Roy first confronted his baseball mortality.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Michael Martinez wasn't exactly a police officer walking about Santo Domingo with a gun and badge. "I wasn't on the street," he said yesterday with a laugh. But Martinez did play for a baseball team sponsored by the police, which is where a scout for the Washington Nationals discovered him in 2005 and signed him. Several years earlier, Martinez had tried his hand at professional basketball, playing for Los Prados in Santo Domingo during the 2001 season. The 5-9, 145-pound Martinez' idol?