J.A. Happ News

For the past several days, Ruben Amaro and the Phillies have been in close contact with free agent pitcher Pedro Martinez.

Well, Toronto Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi finally realized what was good for the team and Roy Halladay and is now willing to listen to offers for Halladay's services! Halladay may well be one of the top 2 or 3 starting pitchers in all of baseball, so you can expect plenty of teams to be in on the Halladay talks.

In the Phillies ' exhaustive search for a starting pitcher, the speculation has ranged from Toronto's Ray Halladay, arguably the best righthander in the game, to Pedro Martinez, inarguably well past his prime.

REDS at PHILLIES Tonight, 7:05: RHP Johnny Cueto vs. LHP Cole Hamels Tuesday, 7:05: RHP Aaron Harang vs.

Cincinnati RHP Johnny Cueto vs. LHP Cole Hamels . Tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. Cincinnati RHP Aaron Harang vs.

You can read plenty of doom and gloom in the paper today, so we'll start this morning with one of the few positive aspects that has emerged over the past three weeks, when the Phillies have lost 14 of 18 games to fall into a tie with the Marlins for first place in the National League East.

The Braves had the brooms out tonight in Atlanta... hoping to beat the Phillies again and sweep that three-game series from the NL eastern division leaders, who were 9-0 at Turner Field last season.

A year after a 9-0 record in Atlanta helped give Philadelphia momentum for its World Series championship run, three straight losses at Turner Field left the Phillies feeling flawed.

This time, J.A. Happ could not do it alone. The young lefthander who ended the Phillies' last losing streak with a complete-game shutout, pitched seven gritty innings tonight, but the offense and bullpen did nothing for him.

The Phillies bypassed promising youngsters Carlos Carrasco and Drew Carpenter to award veteran Rodrigo Lopez tomorrow's start against the New York Mets, but team officials said that Lopez's experience was not the main factor in their decision.

Ibanez ran in the outfield, played catch, ran the bases, and took batting practice in an indoor cage.

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said late Monday night at Coca-Cola Park that left-hander Antonio Bastardo is heading for the disabled list.

J.A. Happ pitched a five-hit shutout, Jayson Werth homered twice and the Phillies beat the Blue Jays 10-0 yesterday in Toronto.

Jayson Werth homered twice, drove in three runs and fell a triple short of the cycle, as the Phillies pounded out 14 hits in a 10-0 victory against Toronto for just their second win in the last 11 games.

The visitors' clubhouse at the Rogers Centre is small, with minimal floor space between the rows of lockers that line each wall.

Having served his 50-game suspension from Major League Baseball, Phillies relief pitcher J.C. Romero may have to deal with a more serious legal problem.

Take one look at the Phillies' month-by-month records from last season, and you'll find something quite eerie.

The struggling Philadelphia Phillies are doing some tweaking. One such move has Cole Hamels moving up a day to make the start tonight in the opener of a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Your Rockies are swirling in the rumor whirlpool as much as any team out there. There is, however, no truth to the rumor that the Rockies are plotting to trade Ryan Spilborghs to the Braves in exchange for Jon & Kate Plus 8. But Spilly's name is still out there.

According to New York Post baseball writer Joel Sherman, the Phillies were in serious talks with the Rockies on a deal that would have sent J.A. Happ and prospects to Colorado for right-hander Jason Marquis and right-handed outfielder Ryan Spilborghs .