Laugher

Phils Open Season with April Fool's Drubbing in Atlanta

ATLANTA — After Robert Person blew out his right shoulder and Mike Lieberthal re-injured his surgically-repaired left knee, the Phillies ended up losing Scott Rolen for the year and then fired Larry Bowa.

Alright. It's a bad April Fool's joke, but there was nothing in the Phillies' opening game of the 2002 season that inspired much laughter unless you're into gallows humor. No, nobody was injured during Monday's opener at Turner Field against the Atlanta Braves unless you count the team's pride and won-lost record.

The Fightin' Phils went down with nary a whimper in a 7-2, five-hit loss in an uninspiring performance against Braves' starter Tom Glavine. Originally slated to pitch on Wednesday, Glavine was pressed into service when four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux was pushed back with a strained buttock muscle. Then again, substituting Glavine for Maddux is like trading a .12 gauge shotgun for a nine-millimeter pistol. After knocking out just two singles and a legged-out double through six innings against the savvy lefty, maybe the Phils would have preferred facing Maddux.

	Vinny Castilla hit the first of two, two-out home runs against Robert Person during Monday's season opener. (AP)

"It doesn’t matter (that Maddux was scratched), you have to give credit to Glavine, he pitched a great game," manager Larry Bowa said.

Glavine lasted 6 1/3, threw 106 pitches and whiffed seven. By the time he had run out of gas and gave up a 420-foot homer to Travis Lee with one out in the seventh, Glavine was in cruise control. His offense had given him more than enough against Phils' No. 1 starter Robert Person.

While Glavine was on his game, Person showed the same consistency that he has had all spring... that's not good. After putting together a club-worst 13.85 ERA during Grapefruit League action, Person continued his struggles. The biggest difference between games in March compared with games in April is that the ones in April count.

Person lasted just five innings where he allowed six runs (only three earned), two homers and walked four — three with two outs and three to Chipper Jones. At the same time, it's not like Person had much help. Aside from no run support and just the five hits by the offense, the normally sure-handed infield committed two costly errors in a game where the team didn't do anything right.

Person gave up two, two-out home runs that were prefaced by a pair of two-out walks to allow the Braves to blow it open. First, Vinny Castilla ripped a three-run shot to left in the third inning to make it 4-0 before newly-acquired Gary Sheffield lined a two-run screamer out to left. Both blasts came when it appeared Person was poised for quick innings.

After a strike out and a pop up in the third, Person walked Chipper Jones before throwing what seemed to be an inning-ending groundout to Sheffield. The problem was, the ball glanced off Rolen's gold glove at third base and rolled between his legs like he was a walking croquet wicket. Then, on an 0-2 fastball, Castilla ripped his homer.

"I knew I hit it pretty good," Castilla said. "I didn’t know if it was foul. He threw me a pretty good pitch, but it was a little bit inside."

Castilla turned on it like a ravenous pit bull.

Sheffield's homer conjured up feelings of deja vu sans the error by Rolen. This time Person went pop out, whiff before surrendering the two-out walk to Chipper Jones. Then came a belt-high slider that didn't slide to Sheffield, who collected his third RBI and first hit in his first game as a Brave.

"To hit a home run is very special on the first day," Sheffield said. "It was either a forkball or a slider. I know it was an off-speed pitch. He hung it out over the middle of the plate and I hit it good."

Starting in his first opening day game after winning 15 games last year and carrying the Phils' starters during the final two months of the season, Person showed none of control of last year's run. Of the 23 batters he faced only 14 were greeted with first pitch strikes. At the same time, he had trouble locating his breaking pitches as evidenced by the fact that just 62 percent of his 77 pitches were thrown for strikes.

"I had a lot of walks, but for the most part I made some decent pitches," Person said. "I got in trouble when I had guys with two strikes. But it's early and I don't expect it to be this way the whole season."

Meanwhile, Glavine was in complete control and didn't run into any trouble until the seventh. Along the way, he struck out seven, allowed five hits (only three through six innings) and two walks. He quelled a two-on, one-out threat in the fourth by getting to weak flies to right by Mike Lieberthal and Lee and pitched three perfect innings.

But in the seventh, he ran out of gas. After retiring Lieberthal on a loud fly out to deep center, Lee pounded a long homer to right to breakthrough against the veteran lefty. Then, Glavine walked Pat Burrell and gave up a double to deep center to Marlon Anderson before leaving in favor of Tim Spooneybarger.

	Scott Rolen made this tough play in the eighth inning but his error in the third proved to be costly. (AP)

After Ricky Ledee hit a long sacrifice fly to deep center, the next seven Phillies were retired with just one fair ball leaving the infield as Spooneybarger and closer John Smoltz slammed the door.

"Person didn't throw it like he wanted to but we didn't hit like we wanted to," said Burrell, who struck out three times. "We had some things going later in the game but early we didn't get a lot of chances."

Last season the Phils' quick, 3-0 start set the tone for the first half of the season where they jumped out to first and stayed there until being caught by the Braves in June. That fast start allowed the team to fight for the lead in the NL East for the majority of the season even and tie for the lead as late as Sept. 25 even though it played sub-.500 ball after the All-Star Break.

Perhaps that's why the team is so cavalierly taking the "just one game" tact.

"It's one game so I guess you can say we're one game back. But we have a long season to go," Jimmy Rollins said.

One hundred, sixty-one more to go, in fact.

The Phils and Braves take Tuesday off and then get back at it on Wednesday where Vicente Padilla will make his first Major League start against Kevin Millwood. Padilla has pitched 83 big league games in relief but was converted to a starter in the minors last season. At triple-A Scranton, Padilla went 7-0 with an ERA under 2.

The series wraps up on Thursday when free agent signee Terry Adams will make his Phillies' debut against Jason Marquis. Like Padilla, Adams is a converted reliever who won 12 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.

Notes: Rolen's streak of home runs on three consecutive opening days ended. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. ... Ricky Ledee made his Phillies' debut as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning. He ripped a long sacrifice fly to center against Spooneybarger to drive home the team's second run. ... Reliever Carlos Silva made his big league debut, pitching one inning and allowing one run during the sixth. ... Chipper Jones reached base four times (three walks and a single) and scored two runs. ... Glavine is 22-8 during his career against the Phillies for his best record against any club except for the Reds.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com