By DAVID MURPHY
dmurphy@phillynews.com
Whether it is Carlos Carrasco or Andrew Carpenter or another member of the Phillies' farm system, somebody is going to get a chance to pitch his way into the team's rotation.

The Phillies announced late last night that they had placed lefthander Antonio Bastardo on the 15-day disabled list with a posterior shoulder strain, likely sidelining him until after the All-Star Break.
Bastardo suffered the injury against the Rays on June 25, when he allowed six runs on seven hits before leaving with two out in the fourth inning.

There was no immediate word from the team on how serious they consider the injury, or how long the 23-year-old might be sidelined.

Bastardo had mixed results in his first big league stint, which came as the result of a hip injury that likely ended Brett Myers' season. He allowed three runs in his first two starts, but allowed five in one inning against the Red Sox on June 13. Bastardo pitched well in a 7-2 loss to Baltimore June 19, allowing four runs on five hits in seven innings. But he struggled against Tampa Bay, as he battled stiffness that he said had been present for the previous couple of days.
Righthander Joe Blanton is scheduled to start today against the Braves, followed by lefthander Cole Hamels tomorrow. The Phillies have yet to announce a starter for Thursday, although they could pitch lefthander J.A. Happ on normal rest. Veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer would also be on normal rest for a start Friday against the Mets. But at some point between Thursday and Saturday, the Phillies will need to tap a player from their minor league system, likely either top prospect Carlos Carrasco or righthander Andrew Carpenter, who started against the Nationals on May 16.

If the Phillies start Happ Thursday and Moyer Friday, they would need a fifth starter just two more times before the All-Star Break: Saturday and next Friday. If they start the newcomer Thursday, they would need a fifth starter on Tuesday and then again on June 12.

Bastardo is eligible to return on June 11, but it is unclear how long his rehab is expected to take.
 

Phillies second baseman Chase Utley and outfielder Raul Ibanez continue to lead in the National League All-Star fan balloting, and shortstop Jimmy Rollins has fallen back in the voting with four days remaining.

Utley’s total of 3,510,082 votes is second overall to St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols’ 3,602,765. Utley has almost three times the votes of the Dodgers’ Orlando Hudson among second baseman (1,277,348).

Ibanez, who is on the disabled list, tops outfielders with 2,970,139 votes. Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun is second (2,654,061), followed by the Mets’ Carlos Beltran (2,085,028). The Cubs’ Alfonso Soriano is fourth with 1,916,598 votes and the Phillies’ Shane Victorino is fifth at 1,642,248. Suspended Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez has fallen back to seventh.

Rollins now trails Florida’s Hanley Ramirez by 254,257 votes. Ramirez has 2,026,174 to Rollins’ 1,771,917. Ramirez has been expanding his lead over the past several weeks, with Rollins continuing to struggle.

Ryan Howard remains second at first base behind Pujols with 1,644,971.

Third baseman Pedro Feliz is fourth with 1,132,441. The Mets’ David Wright continues to lead with 2,049,487.

The Cardinals’ Yadier Molina lead among catchers with 1,846,629 votes. The Phillies’ Carlos Ruiz has fallen out of the top 5.

The All-Star rosters will be announced Sunday for the July 14 game in St. Louis.

Charlie Manuel will manage the National League.
 

The Phillies have acknowledged they are aware of an incident with a fan involving lefthander J.C. Romero after their loss to the Rays Thursday night, but say are they are still in the process of gathering information. Robert Eaton, a 25-year-old resident of New Port Richey, Fla., filed a police report alleging that Romero assaulted him soon after the game, the St. Petersburg Times reported earlier today.

Eaton told the Times that Romero responded angrily to a comment Eaton made about steroids. He alleges that Romero "grabbed him by the neck" and "pushed him" after Eaton asked the reliever, who was suspended 50 games earlier this season for a positive drug test, "for some juice."

Romero initially declined to address the situation. When asked by a reporter if he wanted to hear Eaton's claims, Romero responded:

"What'd he say? That he was drunk and got into a fight?. . .I'm not going to comment about it. I'm trying to be professional and I don't really want to get into that. Don't make a story out of nothing."

Asked when he found out about the fan's complaint, Romero answered: "I don't know what's going on. I'm just finding out through you guys."

Romero did not appear in the Phillies' 10-0 win over the Blue Jays, which featured a complete game from lefthander J.A. Happ.

"We're disappointed to learn about the alleged incident with a Rays fan and one of our players following Thursday night's game at Tropicana Field," the Phillies said in a statement. "We are in the process of gathering all of the details surrounding the situation. Until such information is provided, it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time."

In January, Romero was suspended for 50 games for a positive drug test, which he maintains came as the result of use of an over-the-counter supplement. A lawsuit against supplement manufacturer ErgoPharm and two retail stores is pending.

A police dispatcher confirmed to the Times that a report was filed from Tropicana Field around 11 p.m. Thursday night. Romero did not appear in the game.

On Friday night, the Rays released this statement to the Times:

"We are aware of an alleged incident between a Phillies player and a fan. At this point it is a police matter and for that reason we won't have any further comment."

Eaton told the times that he was attempting to get autographs after the game. After Romero ignored his request, Eaton shouted a remark about steroids.

Eaton alleges that Romero told him to "shut the f--- up," the Times reported.

"He reared back and kinda grazed my chin and grabbed me by the neck and threw me back," Eaton said, according to the Times. "I was in shock."

Messages left for Eaton by the Daily News were not immediately returned.

For roughly 20 minutes, the doors remained shut, bottling up whatever emotion lay percolating inside. It isn’t clear what exchanges took place inside the Phillies clubhouse tonight – manager Charlie Manuel sent word that he would not be making any post-game comments – but when the room finally opened to reporters, the only discernible sound was the ringing of a cell phone from inside the pocket of a clubhouse attendant who was carrying a pile of dirty uniforms to a bin across the room.

Manuel had spent much of the previous week warning of a bursting of the dam, and after a 24-year-old rookie held the Phillies hitless for six innings en route to a 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays, the time might have been nigh.

“I think we all understand what we need to do to win,” said second baseman Chase Utley, who had two of the Phillies three hits in their 11th loss in 13 games. “We just have to play better baseball, and that really is the bottom line. When you lose, it’s frustrating. When you lose over the course of a couple weeks, it’s even more frustrating. So nobody is happy in here. But definitely, nobody is giving up.”

Whether this most recent loss represents the cellar floor that all struggling teams need to reach before they begin to re-ascend, or just another landing in what has been a steady decline, remains to be seen.

Ricky Romero held them hitless through six innings. They finished with just three hits total. They are batting just .224 while losing 11 of their last 13.

Read more tomorrow.

Regardless of his decision to bench struggling short stop Jimmy Rollins for at least two games, manager Charlie Manuel remains committed that his star's proper place in the line-up is as the leadoff hitter.

Manuel, who met with Rollins before the game and told him to take the next two days off in hopes to clear his mind, said that the Phillies' line-up needs Rollins at the top.

Center fielder Shane Victorino, the normal No. 2 hitter who batted first last night, entered the game hitting .305 with a .371 on base percentage. And second baseman Chase Utley has hit second in 16 games this season. But Manuel firmly believes that Rollins belongs at the top of the line-up.

“I think he’s the leadoff hitter,” Manuel said. “I think he is our leadoff hitter. Victorino has hit in there and he is the guy that probably replaces Jimmy when he isn’t in the game at the leadoff hole, but at the same time, I look at both of those guys as hitting in the top of the order. To me, we have to get Jimmy right. That’s the whole purpose of sitting him. I don’t see how moving him around in the line-up helps one bit at all here. I don’t understand that. I don’t see it. And I’ve been around him for five years now as a player, and I think that he is our leadoff hitter. And I think for us to get our offense going and everything like that, the big thing is trying to get him going.”

Rollins is hitless in his last five games, going 0-for-19 in that time.

Kyle Drabek, who may have surpassed Carlos Carrasco as the organization's top pitching prospect, will pitch in the 2009 Futures Game, scheduled for All-Star Week in St. Louis. Drabek is 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA in four starts at Double A Reading and is 7-1 with a 2.36 ERA in 13 starts between Clearwater and Reading.

Drabek is one of two Phillies who will participate in the game, which has featured the likes of Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard in the past.

Yohan Flande, a 22-year-old lefthander currently at Class A Clearwater, will pitch for the World Team. Flande is 7-1 with a 2.52 ERA in 13 starts this season.

Last year, righthander Carlos Carrasco, short stop Jason Donald and catcher Lou Marson all competed in the game.

Folks with tickets to the July 12 game against the Pirates at Citizens Bank Park will likely get to see ace lefty Cole Hamels pitch. The Phillies are planning on making a minor tweak to their rotation, moving Cole Hamels up to start Friday night against the Blue Jays. In exchange, J.A. Happ will slide from Friday to Saturday. The day off this past Monday enables the Phillies to do this while keeping Hamels on normal rest.

The reasoning is two-fold:

1) Hamels will get four more starts before the All-Star Break (Friday at Toronto, July 2 at Atlanta, July 7 versus Cincinnati, and July 12 versus Pittsburgh) instead of three (Friday at Toronto, July 3 versus the Mets, and July 8 versus the Reds).

2) Hamels will avoid experiencing a long layoff between starts over the All-Star Break, something he said caused him to grow rusty last season. If Hamels would have stayed on his normal day, he would have an eight-day gap between starts. The Phillies could theoretically use the off day next Monday to achieve the same affect, but doing it this way keeps their rotation in very much the same order.

Last year, Hamels said he felt rusty after making his second-half debut against the Marlins, thanks to two extra days off that the Phillies decided to give him.

“I think I learned something from last year,” Hamels said, “and that’s obviously something that they’ve taken into consideration, being able to throw on that last day (before the All-Star break).”

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I'm sure you all are anxious to hear Jimmy Rollins explanation for his decision to flip to second base instead of throw to first in the eighth inning, which resulted in all runners reaching safely. The Rays went on to score five runs in the inning.

Well, there really isn't an explanation.

"Usually I just pick up and go to first automatically, just because the ball is hit soft toward the middle and I'm over on the pull side," Rollins said. "I don't know what to say. I really don't know."

It was a very rare miscue by the Gold Glove short stop, but it kept the Phillies from a ninth-inning in which a home run from Chase Utley, Ryan Howard or Jayson Werth would have tied the game.

Rollins' struggles at the plate also continued. He went 0-for-4 and is now hitless in his last five games.

Over the weekend, I wrote here that I had a gut feeling that the Phillies would make a deal at some point in the near future, definitely before the All-Star Break in a couple of weeks. Over the past few days, I've been feeling more and more that my gut is misleading me. Don't get me wrong. The Phillies would love to make a move. But right now, there don't seem to be a whole lot of options. Take Colorado righthander Jason Marquis, whom the team views as a potential fit. The Rockies have won 17 of 19 games, going from a team 12 games under .500 to a playoff contender.

Here is general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. summing up the trade market today:

“I think things will heat up late, because everybody is still kind of in it,” Amaro said. “There are no real teams bailing, or stepping out of this thing. There’s going to be a pretty vicious fight for probably two of the division in our league, and certainly for the Wild Card. There are so many teams that are still involved. I don’t expect that to change a whole lot over the next month, but it will start to crystallize a little bit more as we start to get into the middle of July.”

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As those who follow me on Twitter know, Brad Lidge will be activated tomorrow.

Myself and a couple other reporters spoke briefly with the closer before the game. There isn't much new to report that you didn't already read in today's paper. But he doesn't think he will be limited once he does get back onto the mound. There are no guarantees that the problem is completely gone. Who knows what might happen if he turns awkwardly while fielding a bunt or covering first. But right now, he says he can feel the difference in the knee when he delivers to the plate. He is moving in a straight line toward the catcher, rather than falling away. That has led to improved command of both his slider and his fastball.

I'm sure everyone is anxious to see how that plays back at the big league level.

For the record, Ryan Howard wasn't worried that he might have Swine Flu. Or Swan Flu. Or any other type of Flu. Doctors quickly ruled out the Flu during his first trip to the hospital on early Saturday morning. Eventually, they diagnosed him with sinusitis, or, in Howard's words, a sinus infection.

But Howard is here in St. Pete, having arrived around 12:30 p.m. today. He is in the line-up, where he will serve as the designated hitter. Manager Charlie Manuel initially had him at first base, but changed his mind in the hope of keeping him off his feet as much as possible.

Howard said he isn't completely healthy. But he is healthy enough.

"Am I 100 percent?" said Howard, who hit a three-run home run as a pinch-hitter Saturday night, then missed Sunday's loss to the Orioles after a return trip to the hospital early Sunday morning. "No. But I'm a lot better. I'd probably say about 75, 80 percent. Right now it's mostly congestion. Those two days really helped, actually, getting better and what not."

Chris Coste will be making his third major league start at first base.

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Raul Ibanez was pleased with the work he put in today, which included swings during batting practice and some running exercises.

The left fielder said he thinks a July 3rd return is realistic.