Some things missing in Phillies' clubhouse

BASEBALL PLAYERS are notorious for the practical jokes they play on teammates.

During spring training in 2008, former Phillies pitcher Brett Myers famously orchestrated an elaborate ruse on young righthander Kyle Kendrick, convincing him he had been traded to the Yomiuri Giants of the Japanese League for a player named Kobayashi Iwamura.

The stunt, which required the cooperation of many members of the Phillies' staff, including manager Charlie Manuel, worked so well that Kendrick was virtually in tears before Myers giddily screamed Kendrick had "got punked."

Yesterday, after the Phillies ended a nine-game losing streak by beating Baltimore, 2-1, their locker room was much different than it typically is.

The only things missing were the heavy tension that comes with being the worst team in baseball, and - oh yeah - everything out of the locker space of ace pitcher Cole Hamels.

The clubhouse is like a sacred sanctuary for all players. Nobody ever takes everything out of a player's locker space - unless, unlike Kendrick, he actually has been traded.

That, or someone with an overactive sense of humor decided to take advantage of a situation that presented itself. It is no secret that Hamels is the most valuable commodity the 23-45 Phillies have in their rebuilding plans. It's assumed that Hamels could be traded at any time if another team comes up with the right package of prospects to offer the Phillies.

Yesterday was not that day, but when the Phillies announced before the game that Hamels had been scratched for his scheduled start tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals because of a mild right hamstring strain, you can imagine the conspiracy theories that were ignited. If the Phillies were on the verge of closing a deal for Hamels, the last thing they would want would be for him to risk injury.

As I said earlier, it was a perfect opportunity for a swift sense of humor.

Perhaps Hamels' barren locker space was to get the minds of reporters running. Heaven knows you need to find something interesting about a team that is on a historically bad pace. Perhaps it was just to have a little fun with Hamels because everybody assumes he is not staying much longer in that clubhouse. On Wednesday, Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. reiterated that the Phillies were looking to speed their rebuilding process by making some moves before the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline.

Or maybe Hamels really hadn't put anything, not even a dirty stocking, in his locker since the Phillies returned from their eight-game road trip.

"It was mutual," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said of the decision to scratch Hamels from tonight's start.

Sandberg said Hamels had felt something a day after he had a normal workout to prepare for his start. He said Hamels "didn't feel like it was a long-term thing."

A possible joke aside, the news about Hamels was the downside of a day that actually went right for the Phillies for a change.

With nearly 100 games remaining and the "dog days of summer" looming just over the horizon, there will be plenty of opportunities to pile on the Phillies. Yesterday they earned a much-needed respite from the misery.

Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning and Jonathan Papelbon got his 13th save in his first opportunity since June 7.

It was also the first time since that date that the Phillies actually led in a game past the seventh inning.

"Yeah, it's a relief," Howard said of the win. "Guys have come in with a positive attitude each and every day. We're just trying to catch a break going our way.

"Nobody comes to the field every day to lose. We go out there trying to do what we need to do to win. We haven't been able to come through, but today we'll take it. Try to come back and do the same thing [tonight]."

The Phillies' players know what the deal is. They know management has finally moved on from trying to hold on to what was and is in scorched-earth mode to swing this thing in a different direction.

The overall talent base is about as low as a major league team can have. Still, most of these guys have pride, if not ability, and being a laughingstock is not something any professional athlete enjoys.

"That losing streak was as tough on us as it was on anybody,'' said yesterday's starter Sean O'Sullivan, who gave up one run in five innings with a career-high seven strikeouts. "We don't want to lose.

"You can talk about rebuilding, but we don't look at it like that in here. We take the field every day and we're playing hard. Hopefully, today will get things to swing back in our direction."

Columns: ph.ly/Smallwood