Germano out to show Phillies what they're missing

SAN DIEGO - Justin Germano speaks softly but doesn't mince words when asked whether he'd like to stick it to the team that tossed him aside in March:

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it," he said of his start tonight against the Phillies. "I'm glad it worked out this way . . . I'm definitely happy to be here. It will feel good to go out there and throw well."

The Phillies waived Germano with 2 weeks left in spring training. The Padres, who drafted and developed him, claimed him.

He is 6-3 with a 3.55 earned run average in 12 starts since his call-up in May. Those numbers would lead Phillies starters in ERA, and he would have the second-best winning percentage among starters with more than seven starts. His four outings without surrendering an earned run would be best among Phillies.

He was acquired from the Reds for Rheal Cormier in July last year and went 2-0 with an 2.82 ERA in six Triple A starts, putting him at 10-6 with a 3.48 ERA for his Triple A season.

Still, the Phillies declined to add him to their expanded major league roster in September.

"I thought I threw well enough to get that call-up," he said. "They decided they didn't have a place for another pitcher."

At that point, he knew the Phils were more interested in what he couldn't do. He had pitched in nine major league games by the end of 2006, compiling a 1-3 record and an 8.04 ERA, but, well, it was only nine games.

He didn't have a terrible spring with the Phillies: five appearances, 4.50 ERA.

Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle recently reviewed the decision. The organization considered him a "marginal" talent, one who probably would not see much time in a camp with six major league starters and six other Triple A starters.

The Phillies might have been able to use Germano, 24, after all.

By the end of spring training, two of those major league starters, Freddy Garcia and Jon Lieber, were on the disabled list. Lieber is now done for the season, and Garcia might be done.

Closer prospect Joe Bisenius made the team, but has since compiled a 6.31 ERA in Triple A. Journeyman Clay Condrey has been sent down three times. Zach Segovia, who got a spot start for Garcia in April, was demoted to Double A after going 1-9 at Triple A.

The Phillies weren't the only team to miss on Germano. Only the Padres claimed him. The Padres had traded him and another pitcher to the Reds in 2005 for third baseman Joe Randa.

"It might have been easier for us [to pick him up]. We had a history with him," Padres GM Kevin Towers said. "We hated to part ways with him."

The Padres snuck him through waivers at the end of spring training, when a glut of similar talents hit the wire, and watched him shine in Portland: 4-0, 1.69 in five starts.

So, when Clay Hensley hit the 15-day disabled list with a groin injury in early May, they called up Germano. With a fastball at 88 to 84 mph, a slow curve and sharp control, he ran off a 5-0 record with a 2.36 ERA in his first seven starts.

"He's a much different pitcher. When we had him, he had more velocity. He's pitching with a lot more confidence," Towers said. "He's certainly exceeded our expectations. Greatly. Hopefully, he'll be able to keep it up."

Germano doesn't seem to have any doubt he will - and he can't wait to prove it to the team that let him go.

"They just look at numbers, not at how a guy's progressed," he said. "I throw strikes. I get people out. They want to see that 95. And they want to see the [major league] success early on."

Sometimes, success takes patience.

Phillies first-round pick Joe Savery, a lefthanded pitcher out of Rice, Wednesday signed a $1,372,500 contract that includes a scholarship to complete the 32 hours he needs to earn his degree and guarantees him a spot in major league camp next spring.

Phillies first-round pick Joe Savery, a lefthanded pitcher out of Rice, Wednesday signed a $1,372,500 contract that includes a scholarship to complete the 32 hours he needs to earn his degree and guarantees him a spot in major league camp next spring.

Savery, 21, is an outstanding hitter who said he hopes to follow the path of another top college hitter, Micah Owings, who needed only one full minor league season before joining the Diamondbacks in the majors this year. *