Phillies Notebook: Jimmy Rollins good to go

ON SATURDAY afternoon, Charlie Manuel was concerned enough about Jimmy Rollins' sore right foot that he pinch-ran for him in the ninth inning of a 4-3 game with Kyle Kendrick. Kendrick was later picked off at second base on a blown call by the umpires, eliminating the potential tying run just before Cesar Hernandez doubled to rightfield.

Yesterday, Manuel assumed that Rollins would be out of commission, so he drew up a lineup with Freddy Galvis starting at shortstop. But Rollins informed the manager that he felt well enough to play. Manuel rewrote the lineup, and Rollins went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and two runs scored in addition to making a couple of impressive defensive plays.

"I was surprised at how good he was moving," Manuel said.

Rollins is hitting .266 with a .326 on-base percentage and .407 slugging percentage.

"He just walked in and he said he could play," Manuel said. "I didn't go ask him today, I just sat him out, and he said he could play, and when he told me he could play I said, 'All right, if you can play, that's fine,' and I put him in the lineup."

Recently demoted righthander Phillippe Aumont told the Easton Express that his handling by the Phillies has been "confusing."

"It's very, very confusing," Aumont, who posted a 4.15 ERA with 15 strikeouts and 10 walks in 16 appearances for the Phillies, told the newspaper. "Baseball is a very confusing thing because you have so many people who have so many different perspectives on how to do things. At the major league level, [bullpen coach] Rod [Nichols] is telling me something, then I come down here and can hear different stuff. Which way do I go? Do I want to please the people while I'm down here right now or do I do the things the big league wants me to do even if I'm not doing the stuff they want me to do here?

"I'm the one who's caught in the middle and I have to make a decision. We don't always make the best decisions, nobody does, but I have to find a medium of where I can get to where I want to be and, at the same time, try to do some of the things they want me to do. The bottom line is I'm going to do what's good for me and whatever anybody else says goes in and out for me."

The 24-year-old Aumont had little trouble striking out batters or inducing ground balls during his stretch in the majors, but he struggled mightily with his control, throwing just 59 percent of his pitches for strikes and hitting two batters. He issued at least one walk in nine of his 16 appearances.

Carlos Zambrano made his second official minor league start last night, again at Advanced Class A Clearwater. The veteran righthander pitched six scoreless innings, striking out three and walking two.

Tyler Cloyd has held an opponent to two earned runs in three of his four starts, including Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Brewers, when he struck out three and walked one and allowed an unearned run in addition to the two earned. Thus far, the lone hiccup was an ugly outing against the Red Sox when he allowed six runs in 2 1/3 innings on May 27.

Cloyd's next scheduled start is Thursday in Milwaukee, while Zambrano would not be on normal rest until Friday. The Phillies will have an opportunity to make a change on the subsequent trip through the rotation. An off day on June 10 would enable Zambrano to pitch on Cloyd's day on normal rest. In that situation, his Phillies debut would come on June 12 at Minnesota.

Manuel said that third baseman Michael Young emailed him and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. to say he likely would return from the bereavement list today after missing five games due to an unspecified family emergency.

That could mean the end of Cesar Hernandez' first stint in the majors, although utility man Michael Martinez is also a candidate to return to Triple A Lehigh Valley. Against the Brewers yesterday, Hernandez committed his second error in four starts at second base, booting a ground ball by Norichika Aoki in the fifth inning. The 23-year-old rookie has shown good range at the position since replacing Young but overall looks a bit raw as a defender. At the plate, he is 5-for-19 with a double and one strikeout.

Domonic Brown went 3-for-3 with his NL-leading 16th home run and four RBI. It was his eighth home run in his last nine games. On the season, he is hitting .282 with a .321 on-base percentage, .574 slugging percentage and 40 RBI . . . Cliff Lee improved to 6-1 with a 2.27 ERA in nine starts following a Phillies loss this season. The Phillies are 7-2 in those starts . . . Milwaukee catcher Jonathan Lucroy's final numbers for the series: 8-for-13 with three home runs, a double, a triple and eight RBI.

Today on PhillyDailyNews.com: How the Phils barely hung on to beat Milwaukee.

Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese