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Phillies Notes: Phillies will start Worley in Marlins series opener

Vance Worley will make his first major-league start Monday afternoon in the first game of the Phillies' day-night doubleheader against the Florida Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.

Vance Worley will start for the Phillies in the first game of today's doubleheader. (File photo)
Vance Worley will start for the Phillies in the first game of today's doubleheader. (File photo)Read more

Vance Worley will make his first major-league start Monday afternoon in the first game of the Phillies' day-night doubleheader against the Florida Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.

Given the way Kyle Kendrick has struggled, Worley could make his second major-league start later this week if he performs well enough against the Marlins.

Kendrick, 2-4 with a 7.04 ERA in his last six starts, said he could not worry about his spot in the rotation, which he briefly lost this season after a poor start at St. Louis.

"That's out of my control," Kendrick said Sunday after allowing five runs and seven hits in the Phillies' 6-2 loss to Milwaukee. "Yeah, I've been pitching bad, but I pitched good in the beginning of the year. That stuff is out of my control. I just have to go out there and get guys out."

Worley, a third-round draft choice in 2008, opened this season at double-A Reading, where he went 9-4 with a 3.20 ERA in 19 starts. After pitching a scoreless ninth inning against Colorado in his major-league debut July 24, he was sent to triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he went 1-3 with a 3.77 ERA in eight starts.

"We had a couple options, and he's been up here and [the Marlins] haven't seen him," manager Charlie Manuel said when asked about pitching Worley in the first game of the doubleheader.

Manuel did not rule out that Kendrick's job could be in jeopardy.

"I haven't talked about that at all" with pitching coach Rich Dubee, Manuel said. "As we go down this month, we'll definitely start talking about our rotation. When we start getting some days off, we'll kind of see where we are at."

Worley, who will be added to the roster Monday with Lehigh Valley lefthander Nate Robertson, was not available for comment after the Phillies announced his Monday start.

Mathieson's return

Jimmy Rollins walked by Scott Mathieson Sunday morning and assured the pitcher that he would not be on the 48-hour program during his second stint with the big-league club this season. Rollins was referring to Mathieson's first big-league recall in June, when he spent two days with the Phillies and made one appearance.

Mathieson made his second big-league appearance Sunday. Despite allowing a walk and a single, he pitched a scoreless eighth inning. In the ninth, he allowed the first two batters to reach base on a walk and a single before Manuel turned to righthander Jose Contreras. With Contreras on the mound, Milwaukee scored an unearned run that was charged to Mathieson.

The 26-year-old righthander finished his season at Lehigh Valley with a 3-6 record and a 2.80 ERA. He converted 26 of his 30 save opportunities. He spent the final five weeks of the IronPigs' season trying to add a split-finger fastball to his repertoire with input from pitching coach Rod Nichols and Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter.

Mathieson said that he'd had only one bullpen session with Sutter, but that the two had talked about pitching quite a bit.

"We got to talk every day for about 10 days," Mathieson said. "It was cool hanging out with him and picking his brain. I got insight to his approach. I think we worked more on the mental approach to the game than we did the splitter."

Mathieson said he planned to reconnect with Sutter this winter and work more on the mechanics of the splitter.

Extra bases

Rollins' seventh-inning single was the 1,705th hit of his career, tying him with Hall of Famer Chuck Klein for sixth place in franchise history. . . . According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Roy Halladay on Saturday night became the third Phillies pitcher since 1962 to allow four home runs in a game and earn a victory. The other two were Eric Milton against the Chicago White Sox in 2004 and Art Mahaffey against the New York Mets in 1962. . . . Danys Baez, on the disabled list because of back spasms, will begin a rehab assignment with Lehigh Valley Monday. It will be brief because the IronPigs' season ends Monday against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Baez is eligible to come off the DL Friday against the Mets. . . . The Phillies have elected not to renew the contract of triple-A manager Dave Huppert, who has led the IronPigs since their inaugural season in 2008.