Phillies Notes: Phillies say Halladay's still on schedule for April 3 start

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Roy Halladay will have thrown 25 pitches in a span of 10 days when he takes the ball Saturday at the Carpenter Complex to start a minor-league game. The Phillies want Halladay to start the second game of the regular season, April 3 in Atlanta.

They believe he has enough time to catch up.

"Sure," pitching coach Rich Dubee said. "What's the risk?"

Halladay will make two more starts, Saturday in the minors and Thursday against Toronto at Bright House Field. Dubee said the rest of the rotation would taper down pitch counts in their final outings. Halladay will not.

The team has insisted Halladay's spring malaise - nine runs, seven walks, and three home runs in 12 innings - is mechanical and not health-related. His last game, on Sunday, was shortened to one inning because of a stomach virus that has slowed his strange spring.

Dubee said he did not move Halladay to the minor-league game to help his confidence. The Phillies travel 50 miles to Sarasota that day to play the Orioles.

"I don't want to put him on a bus," Dubee said. "Think of how many germs are running through a bus. It's like getting on a plane. . . . He's already lost eight to 10 pounds. So I'm going to take him down the road an hour, hour and a half on a bus? Ain't doing it."

There was nothing strange, Cole Hamels said, about pitching to Shane Victorino. They were teammates for some of the best years of baseball Philadelphia has ever witnessed, but business made them opponents Thursday night.

In the first inning of Boston's 6-1 win, Victorino popped out. He grounded out in the third inning. Then, in the sixth, Hamels caught Victorino looking for one of his final acts in a stellar Grapefruit League outing.

Strike three was a curveball, a nasty one at that.

"Actually, that's probably one of the best ones I've thrown in a really long time," Hamels said. "I guess I'll have to hear from him. He's obviously not used to seeing me throw that."

This was Hamels' final extended spring appearance. He has one exhibition start remaining, and it will be an abbreviated one Wednesday. Then, it's opening day in Atlanta.

Hamels allowed one run in six innings and fanned five.

Righty Mike Stutes did not help his cause for a bullpen job by walking three in two-thirds of an inning. He allowed five runs, although he could have escaped unscathed had Yuniesky Betancourt fielded a grounder better. . . . Catcher Carlos Ruiz left the game in the ninth inning after being hit by a pitch on his left hand. . . . Delmon Young (ankle surgery) worked out in the outfield and ran the bases under the supervision of the team's athletic training staff. Young is likely to miss at least the first month of the season. He will not play in a spring training game, as the Phillies had originally hoped. . . . Atlanta announced it will start righty Tim Hudson, lefty Paul Maholm, and righty Kris Medlen in the season's first series against the Phillies.