He seemed to be recovering nicely after he had Tommy John surgery Sept. 29, 2006. He had been throwing well. He had been throwing hard.

But he suffered a setback and now is very likely to have a second Tommy John surgery on Thursday, which puts his major-league career in peril.

Mathieson, the team's 17th-round pick in 2002, has seen team physician Michael Ciccotti and noted orthopedic surgeons Lew Yocum, who performed the first surgery, and James Andrews, who will perform the second surgery, for opinions on his right elbow. His latest MRI shows the ligament is intact, but stretched out. Andrews will scope the elbow first, but Phillies athletic trainer Scott Sheridan said a second Tommy John is most likely.

Pitchers typically have a recovery rate of 80 to 90 percent the first time they have elbow-ligament-replacement surgery. The rate drops to around 30 percent if they require a second surgery.

Mathieson also had an ulnar nerve transposition on the elbow Sept. 24 last year.

"He can't pitch the way he is right now, so it's one of those things that has to be done," Sheridan said. "Somebody has to fall in that 10 percent, and unfortunately it's Scott Mathieson this time."

Utley, Burrell slow down. For the first month-plus of the season, Chase Utley and Pat Burrell carried the Phillies offensively. But it couldn't last forever, and both are struggling mightily lately. Utley is hitting .120 (3 for 25) with two RBIs in his last seven games, and Burrell is hitting .063 (1 for 16) with no RBIs on this road trip.

"Baseball is a frustrating game," Utley said. "That's why you try to stay even keel, through the good and the bad."

"That's why somebody else is going to have to pick you up every now and then," manager Charlie Manuel said. "It seems like when they have bad nights, we haven't scored real well."

Howard homers. It's a good sign when Ryan Howard is hitting the ball to the opposite field, but so far that hasn't translated into busting out of his slump. Maybe yesterday's homer to left field in the second inning in an 8-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park will be the one.

"He stayed on the ball real good to get it to go," Manuel said.

Friday flashback. The ankle?

"Yeah, ankle's broken," Jimmy Rollins said after Friday's 7-4 comeback victory over the Giants.

Relax, it's not broken. Rollins just wanted to have a little fun after he went 3 for 5 with a double, a home run, and three RBIs in his first game back since he hit the disabled list April 20 with a sprained left ankle. His two-run homer to left field in the fifth cut the Giants' lead to 4-3, and his double to right field in the eighth knocked in an insurance run. He also singled in the seventh.

But Rollins acknowledged that his triumphant return seemed to be missing something.

"A triple," he said.

The cycle will have to wait.

Cole Hamels (4-3) pitched better than his line indicated. He allowed six hits, four runs and three walks in seven innings. He struck out seven. Tom Gordon pitched a scoreless eighth, and Brad Lidge picked up his ninth save by striking out the side in the ninth.

Golden child. Manuel helped hand Giants centerfielder Aaron Rowand his Gold Glove yesterday. Rowand won the award for the job he did in the center field last year with the Phillies. Rowand is the first Phillies centerfielder to win a Gold Glove since Garry Maddox won his last of eight Gold Gloves in 1982.

Extra bases. The Chicago Cubs drafted Jamie Moyer, who started for the Phillies yesterday, in the sixth round of the June 1984 draft. Giants righthander Tim Lincecum, who faced the Phillies, was born June 15, 1984, in Bellevue, Wash. Moyer got his first win in the majors a day after Lincecum celebrated his second birthday. . . . The Phillies lead the National League with 12 comeback victories, six of those comebacks coming in the eighth inning or later .. . . They also lead the majors with 54 home runs.

- Todd Zolecki