Summing up Phillies' spring training: Great weather, terrible news

CLEARWATER, Fla. - In the third inning, fat, cold drops of rain pelted down on the Piggy Bank, Bright House Field.

There went the meteorological no-hitter, broken up in the Phillies' final exhibition of a Florida phase where the weather was all-time spectacular and the daily news bulletins could not have been worse.

We were introduced to the dark side of Chase Utley's benign-sounding patellar tendinitis, a tongue-twisting condition called chondromalacia. Simplified description: cartilage on the underside of the kneecap that has been eroded by wear and tear over time - think Housemaid's knee - and is now close to bone-on-bone.

For weeks, we watched the bizarre contrast of the Phillies' All-Star second baseman walking without a limp, ripping balls daily in batting practice, and . . . And, yet, Chase was unable to execute the routine starts, stops, stretches, pivots and other demands of his position. Utley could not do anything that would put sudden pressure on his kneecap. The result was excruciating pain. This is an athlete who endured the scourge of a hip labrum for months before reluctantly shutting down.

Break his wrist, he wants to keep on keeping on. Pure gamer, now unable to game.

But this patellar tendinitis plus the chondromalacia has put his season and career beyond 2011 under a cloud that dwarfed the scudding nimbus of the first rain day of a splendid month of March.

Utley was the No. 1 story. It overshadowed the ballyhooed presence of starters Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton, proving once more that really bad news will trump really good news every time.

No. 2 story began with concerns about the diminished velocity of closer Brad Lidge. The drop from the 96-to-98 mph fastball he powered while a Houston Astro to the 84-to-86 he was flopping up there from Day 1 here represents a yard in what a hitter sees. It is the difference between a swing and a miss and a launch that clatters off a bleacher seat or scatters sunbathing fans on a jammed Bright House Field berm.

No big deal, we were assured. It's the first time Brad has been healthy since he's been with us, was the daily bulletin as his velocity failed to improve and his ERA hovered significantly above the soaring price of a gallon of regular.

Then Lidge revealed he has been bothered by what he called "bicep tendinitis" and was shutting down for a few days. But whenever he used that term, he also referred to some "shoulder" discomfort he had been having from the first day he threw off a mound. That was on Feb. 14, a long time ago in spring-training days.

On March 24, Lidge pitched the ninth inning here against the Twins. He had no velocity and served a long home run. The next day, the bicep tendinitis became the "shoulder" discomfort he had been battling for nearly 6 weeks. Disabled list here he came, MRI results to come in the next few days.

My orthopedic guy, "Deep Labrum," puts it in layman's terms:

"Once again, biceps tendinitis is a marker for a shoulder injury. Net, you do not use your bicep to throw a baseball, unless you try to do so when your shoulder is injured."

With the caravan of expensive autos and equipment trucks loaded with the spoils of spring training nearly home, the Phillies entertained the Astros with 34-year-old journeyman Nate Bump on the mound.

No disrespect, Nate, but general manager Ruben Amaro and other notables were at the minor league complex, where Cliff Lee was making his final tuneup against a lineup of future Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The Pirates' Triple A team was supposed to be playing the Phils' minor leaguers, but heavy rain in Bradenton grounded the buses.

Nor was it your normal exhibition. The four complex infields are left uncovered and heavy overnight thunderstorms turned the basepaths into alligator alleys. So, the rules were: Hit the ball, the fielders can make some plays, but the hitter walks away. In the first inning of his three-inning final tuneup for Saturday's Bank start against the Astros, Lee gave up a gapper to right-center. I figured sure double, possible triple. Next hitter flared an assumed single to left. Then there was a single to right. One run. You knew Cliff had finished his tuneup when pitching coach Rich Dubee zipped up his jacket, wished a good season to several minor league coaches and headed back to the Piggy Bank.

A few awards to see the lads off to Philly:

* Tilted Kilt MVP: Rule 5 wraith Michael Martinez, headed north with the big club after showing anybody who cared to watch that a welterweight can play big-time baseball. If the six-position IF/OF fails to make Charlie Manuel's final cut, it will be about nothing more than numbers and the 12-man pitching staff created by the Lidge emergency.

* Hooters Big Stick Award: Ben Francisco snapped a tie with improved and ready-to-rumble John Mayberry with his fourth homer, a three-run bolt in the Phils' 7-6 getaway win over Ed Wade's Astros.

* Curtis LeMay Precision Bombing Award: Also Francisco, whose 300-foot, hooking-foul, batting-practice laser drilled club president Dave Montgomery on a pocket containing a comb and his auto remote. Only Monty survived.

* Lenny's MVP Pitcher: Roy Halladay.

* Lenny's MVP Pitcher Runner-up: Roy Halladay.

* Pinellas County Outpatient Injury Spin Award: Triple threat team of GM Ruben Amaro, athletic trainer Scott Sheridan and Phillies physician Dr. Michael Ciccotti.

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