Inside the Phillies: Phillies clubhouse divided by the numbers

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The laundry has created a continental divide of sorts inside the Phillies clubhouse at Bright House Field.

Walk into the room from the main entrance, look to your left, and you'll see the lockers for the four aces, the two MVPs, and pretty much all the other recognizable names on the roster.

Look to your right, and you'll find mostly minor-leaguers trying to crack the big-league roster for the first time or non-roster invitees trying to extend their careers. The majority of the men on the right will end up back in the minor leagues this season.

"All the pigs are over here," said Michael Schwimer, a 6-foot-8 righthanded reliever who has a chance to break into the big leagues in the near future.

Schwimer was joking. Every one of the 60 players inside the clubhouse was likely considered the best player on his high school or college team and has had some sort of success in the minor leagues.

Still, it's impossible not to notice the difference in stature from one side of the room to the other at the Phillies spring-training facility.

If you drew a line from Ryan Howard's corner locker on the left side of the spacious room to Brad Lidge's locker in the middle of the rectangular clubhouse, you'd find 33 guys who have played in a combined 15,104 games and collected 10,527 hits, 1,223 home runs, 5,177 RBIs, 814 victories, 367 saves, two MVP awards, one World Series MVP, and three Cy Young Awards.

The 27 players to the right of Lidge have combined for 1,436 games, 621 hits, 42 home runs, 483 RBIs, 27 wins, and 10 saves. Fourteen have never played in a big-league game.

Frank Coppenbarger, the Phillies clubhouse manager, revealed last week why there is a continental divide.

"It's simplicity for the most part," Coppenbarger said. "We try to do it numerically. It helps with the laundry. We start over here with the lowest number and end up over here with the highest number because otherwise you'll be running all over the room every day with the laundry."

Catcher Dane Sardinha, No. 4 and a non-roster invitee who spent some time with the Phillies last season, actually has the lowest number, but Coppenbarger accommodated Howard with a corner locker to give him more room. The highest number in the room is 87, and it belongs to Matt Miller, a non-roster invitee with no big-league experience. He is the player seated closest to the exit.

"Typically the guys with the lower numbers are the guys who have been here, too," Coppenbarger said. "It is not exactly in perfect number sequence. If we have any extra lockers, we'll try to buffer the guys with the most seniority. Whatever extra lockers we have, we'll use for those guys.

"If we don't have enough [extra lockers], we'll take Howard out of order a little bit because he's a big guy, not just in stature, and we'll give him an end where he has a little more room."

Some more-established non-roster invitees like Robb Quinlan and Delwyn Young are mixed in with the most-elite players, and unestablished minor-leaguers like Brian Bocock and Michael Martinez also are anonymous players among the stars. For the most part, however, it's easy to notice the difference in resumés from one side of the room to the other.

"It was never meant to disassociate anybody," Coppenbarger said. "Everybody in this room is a Philadelphia Phillie. From our standpoint, as long as they're in the big-league camp, we treat them like they are on the major-league team. Whether somebody thinks they have a chance or don't have a chance, that's not our job to make those decisions. They all get the same per diem and the same equipment issued by the club."

For the most part, if the players came through the Phillies farm system, they found themselves on the "minor-league" side of the room at some point.

"I remember when Chase Utley was No. 80," Coppenbarger said.

Matt Rizzotti, No. 76 in this camp, has no problem with being on the lesser side of the invisible divide.

"Those guys have earned it," he said. "That's their side."

Besides, Rizzotti said, all the walls come down once the players leave the clubhouse and go to work on the practice fields.

"I try to talk to Howard, and he's very, very approachable," Rizzotti said. "I talk to him about his approach in BP. We had a funny conversation the other day about when it's windy here. I asked, 'What's your approach today? What are you going for?' He said, 'Today, it's low liners. You have to play the elements.' He was pretty funny.

"Once you're out of the clubhouse, it's free rein. I think that's what most of us feel. When you're in here, it's a little bit more separate, but that's good. That first conversation with new guys, I just hope I don't make a fool out of myself or whatever. On this side, I have a bunch of my teammates, so it's very easy to be comfortable and be yourself over here and not worry about the stupid things you say."

Reliever Ryan Madson remembers what it was like to be on the other side of the clubhouse and can be seen quite often venturing to that side for conversations with minor-leaguers.

"I think it's perfect the way it is set up," Madson said. "There is no line. They can come over here, and we can go there. This gives them exposure to what it's like to be in a big-league clubhouse. It gives you a feel for how to act and what to expect."

Madson said he always talks to the young players because he wants them to be comfortable.

"You want to bring out the best in them, so they are as comfortable as they can be and perform their best," he said. "Let's take everything else away and see who is the best baseball player out there. I try to tell them that they can all do it. If they're in this clubhouse, they have the potential to play in the big leagues."

Brown was on the opposite side of the room wearing No. 78 in spring training last year. Now, he's No. 9 and on the same side of the locker room as Howard, Shane Victorino, and Jimmy Rollins.

He said he was not intimidated when he looked at the veterans side of the room, but admitted he was a little apprehensive at first about talking to some of the veterans.

"That was a part that I wasn't sure about," he said. "I just wanted to be around them and hear them talk. I wanted to watch them prepare and see how they play the game. By the end of the spring, I had communicated with most of the guys in here."

The best advice he received?

"Be yourself," Brown said. "That came from the big man [Howard]."

That may be easier said than done in a room filled with so many stars.

Two long tables sit in the middle of the room on each side, and the one on the left is often occupied by Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Roy Oswalt.

"I have a locker on this side, but I still can't sit there," rookie reliever Scott Mathieson said. "I can't afford to sit there."