Phillies Notebook: Phillies promote Asche

FOR THE Phillies, the future is now - sort of.

During the offseason, the Phillies acquired Michael Young in a trade with the Texas Rangers, but the organization knew Young would not be the long-term option at third base. With Young's name being the focus of trade rumors, the Phillies called up third baseman Cody Asche from Triple A Lehigh Valley yesterday.

In 89 games for the IronPigs, Asche batted .295/.352/.485 with 15 homers and 68 RBI. The 23-year-old prospect was ranked behind Double A Reading pitcher Jesse Biddle as one of the organization's top prospects.

Charlie Manuel decided to keep Asche, who arrived yesterday morning, out of the starting lineup last night. He pinch-hit in the seventh inning and popped out to second. It is likely Asche will be in the lineup tonight; Manuel indicated Asche was not brought up to the majors to sit on the bench. The manager added that he will speak to Young about his role with the team following Asche's promotion.

"He's going to play [tonight] more than likely," Manuel said. "Michael Young will play some at first and third."

Young started at third last night and batted second.

"I'm competitive and I want to be out there as much as possible, but Charlie writes the lineup card and I want to win some ballgames," Young said. "If Cody Asche is playing third base and I have happened to face that pitcher a lot, I'm going to do what I can to help him out. I think very highly of Cody Asche and I want him to have a ton of success."

Manuel said he does not believe Asche's promotion has anything to do with a potential trade of Young. Manuel said it was simply a matter of timing, as Asche has been putting up strong numbers for Lehigh Valley.

Over the past 28 games, Asche batted .333/376/.621, with seven homers and 20 RBI for the IronPigs.

"If the [at-bats] come, then they will come. I will settle into whatever role that I have to for the rest of this year," Asche said. "I will take it on a daily basis and try to work hard and try to earn opportunities in this game. I think that's all you can ask for."

Entering the All-Star break, the Phillies had won four consecutive series, two against division opponents, drew within 6 1/2 games of division-leading Atlanta.

But the Phillies were on an eight-game losing streak before winning last night and had fallen 11 1/2 games behind the Braves. During those eight games, they scored only 14 runs and allowed 52.

"I still have faith in our players. I'm a manager and I believe that we can win," Manuel said. "We still can run off a streak and stuff like that. Baseball is a funny game and I will always say that. At the same time, when I look out there and see how we play, I've got to be realistic.

"We've got a young bullpen that is inexperienced and it takes a top-notch team to make it to the postseason and also make it to the World Series and stuff," Manuel said. "It could take us a while."

Part of the Phillies' offensive struggles can be attributed to the absence of outfielder Domonic Brown, who has not played since July 23 because of concussion symptoms suffered when he tried to make a diving catch in St. Louis.

Brown believed he would be in the lineup the next day, as he felt "fine." But Brown missed his sixth consecutive game last night and will miss more.

"I think it's going to be a little while, probably another week," Manuel said. "He's got some kind of tests [today] and I don't know exactly what they are."

Brown is batting .271 with 24 homers and 69 RBI.

The Phillies will honor former closer Brad Lidge prior to the beginning of tomorrow night's series final with the San Francisco Giants. Lidge will retire with the organization he spent four seasons with, highlighted by perfect season and World Series-clinching save in 2008.

Also, the Phillies will add former pitcher Curt Schilling, who won 101 games while a member of the Phillies, to their Wall of Fame on Friday. The team also will acknowledge the 1983 and 1993 National League championship teams on Friday.

Due to a scoring change from the eighth inning of Sunday's game at Detroit, Phillies reliever Luis Garcia's ERA was changed from 0.00 to 3.52.