Vance Worley

His teammates would have to wait one day for the celebratory cigars because Jimmy Rollins never came to Citizens Bank Park on Monday. Instead, he spent the night with his wife, Johari, and their newborn baby girl. Rollins, 33, became a father for the first time. In baseball terms, that meant a lineup shuffle for Charlie Manuel. He left the lineup on his desk for longer than usual, with hopes Rollins would appear. But the baby was born in the "wee hours" of the morning Monday, so Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said it was best for Rollins to rest.

After throwing 110 pitches against Arizona on April 24, Vance Worley went looking for Cole Hamels. The ball was coming out of Worley's right hand just fine. But there was extra pain in his elbow. He remembered that Hamels had often talked about the same thing last season, when he pitched with a bone chip the size of a Tic Tac in his left elbow. "What is, exactly, a bone chip?" Worley asked Hamels. "Can you give me some of your symptoms?" Hamels started listing a few. When he finished, he asked Worley: "Do you have any of them?"

MILWAUKEE - Vance Worley has stood tall next to the Phillies aces this season, and Sunday he had an opportunity to put his name in the franchise record books alongside Hall of Famer Steve Carlton. One more team win and Worley would have matched the 15 straight games the wretched 1972 Phillies won with Lefty on the mound. Anybody who saw that coming six months ago probably should open a psychic shop in Center City or play Powerball for a living. Worley, as it turned out, fell one game short of Carlton's record when he and the Phillies lost the series finale with the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2, at Miller Park.

It was late October weather, wet and raw, so it could have been viewed as typical for postseason baseball. There was another aspect to Tuesday's Phillies-Braves game that channeled late October: They were going to get this game in if the players had to perform in kayaks. If not, the Phillies would have been burdened with three split doubleheaders and 25 games in the final 22 days of the regular season. "Doubleheaders at this time of the year - we got two already," manager Charlie Manuel said.

Perhaps the best way to measure the accomplishments of the Phillies' starting rotation this season is to reference Vance Worley. Now is as good a time as any, because the rookie righthander probably made his final start of the season Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies' losing streak reached five games for the first time this season in a 7-5 defeat by Washington. A brief recap of Worley's season seems in order. The 23-year-old had the longest winning streak ever by a Phillies rookie - nine games.

There is a moment, immediately before Vanimal hurls a baseball with his right hand, when Vance Worley surfaces. He separates his hands and reaches back until the ball is hidden behind him. His right arm rises, ready to unload as his body catapults toward home plate, and that's when it happens. Six years ago - before Vance was Vanimal, before he wrote angry messages to himself inside his hat, before he transformed from middling non-prospect to one of the best rookie starters in Phillies history - he was an unassuming freshman with a buzz cut. He asked Chris Aquino, then a junior catcher for Long Beach State University, if he would catch a bullpen session before the school year even started.

A visit to orthopedic surgeon James Andrews confirmed the Phillies' diagnosis of a bone chip and inflammation in Vance Worley's right elbow. Andrews immediately ruled out any serious problem with Worley's ulnar collateral ligament - which means no Tommy John surgery is needed. "Immediately after he grabbed my arm, he knew it wasn't Tommy John," said Worley, who visited the specialist in Pensacola, Fla. "Now I just have to go out and get it going. " Worley was not immediately sure of the plan for his return to the field.

At Nationals Park, Washington.   Friday at 7:05 p.m. RHP Kyle Kendrick (0-2, 6.59 ERA) vs. Washington RHP Stephen Strasburg (2-0, 1.13)   Saturday at 1:05 p.m. RHP Vance Worley (2-1, 1.97) vs. Washington LHP Gio Gonzalez (2-1, 1.82)   Sunday at 8:05 p.m. LHP Cole Hamels (3-1, 2.78) vs. Washington RHP Jordan Zimmermann (1-2, 1.89)

A visit to orthopedic surgeon James Andrews confirmed the Phillies' diagnosis of a bone chip and inflammation in Vance Worley's right elbow. Andrews immediately ruled out any serious problem with Worley's ulnar collateral ligament - which means no Tommy John surgery is needed. "Immediately after he grabbed my arm, he knew it wasn't Tommy John," said Worley, who visited the specialist in Pensacola, Fla. "Now I just have to go out and get it going. " Worley was not immediately sure of the plan for his return to the field.

His teammates would have to wait one day for the celebratory cigars because Jimmy Rollins never came to Citizens Bank Park on Monday. Instead, he spent the night with his wife, Johari, and their newborn baby girl. Rollins, 33, became a father for the first time. In baseball terms, that meant a lineup shuffle for Charlie Manuel. He left the lineup on his desk for longer than usual, with hopes Rollins would appear. But the baby was born in the "wee hours" of the morning Monday, so Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said it was best for Rollins to rest.

After throwing 110 pitches against Arizona on April 24, Vance Worley went looking for Cole Hamels. The ball was coming out of Worley's right hand just fine. But there was extra pain in his elbow. He remembered that Hamels had often talked about the same thing last season, when he pitched with a bone chip the size of a Tic Tac in his left elbow. "What is, exactly, a bone chip?" Worley asked Hamels. "Can you give me some of your symptoms?" Hamels started listing a few. When he finished, he asked Worley: "Do you have any of them?"

After a 4-3 victory Tuesday that gave the Phillies their first three-game winning streak of 2012, Vance Worley dampened the mood. He said he's been scratched from his scheduled start Wednesday because of elbow soreness. Kyle Kendrick will start for Worley in the series opener against Chicago. Kendrick has pitched only one inning in the previous 11 days and could be severely limited in how deep he could throw. He made three starts for Cliff Lee while the lefthander was disabled, and the Phillies lost all three.

Before Friday's opening of a three-game series with the San Diego Padres, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was asked what it would take for Carlos Ruiz to become an all-star. "If Chooch keeps hitting the way he is and catching the way he is, I think he stands a good chance of the all-star game," Manuel said. Good observation. In a season sapped by a struggling offense, Ruiz has been one of the bright spots, and he showed why once again. Ruiz went 3 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs as the Phillies defeated the Padres, 7-3, at Citizens Bank Park.

At Citizens Bank Park.   Friday at 7:05 p.m. San Diego LHP Clayton Richard (1-4, 4.89 ERA) vs. RHP Vance Worley (2-2, 2.84)   Saturday at 7:05 p.m. San Diego RHP Edinson Volquez (1-2, 2.98) vs. RHP Roy Halladay (3-2, 3.28)   Sunday at 1:35 p.m. San Diego RHP Jeff Suppan (2-0, 0.90) vs. LHP Cole Hamels (4-1, 2.45)

Before Friday's opening of a three-game series with the San Diego Padres, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was asked what it would take for Carlos Ruiz to become an all-star. "If Chooch keeps hitting the way he is and catching the way he is, I think he stands a good chance of the all-star game," Manuel said. Good observation. In a season sapped by a struggling offense, Ruiz has been one of the bright spots and he showed why once again. Ruiz went 3 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs as the Phillies defeated the Padres, 7-3, at Citizens Bank Park.

In the Phillies' seemingly interminable quest to score runs during the first three weeks of the season, the most conspicuous holes in the lineup were the ones where Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco used to hit. So, for all the negatives you could point to in a 6-4 win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night, the lasting impression was left with two outs in the eighth inning, when Polanco laced a double to left field to send Juan Pierre and Rollins...