Blue Jays Claim Herndon Off Waivers

Right-handed reliever David Herndon was claimed off waivers Tuesday afternoon by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Herndon was the fourth Phillies to be claimed or outrighted off the 40-man roster. He is also the second to be scooped up by the Blue Jays with the other being Tyson Brummett.

Roster Moves: RP Brummett Claimed By Blue Jays; Orr, Lerud Outrighted

The Phillies shook up their roster a bit today, making some room on their 40-man roster.

Starting with pitching, reliever Tyson Brummett was put on waivers and claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays. Brummett, 28, made his Major League debut in September, allowing a pair of hits and striking out two in his only appearance of the season.

The Phillies also outrighted infielder Pete Orr and catcher Steven Lerud from their 40-man roster, leaving the Phillies with 37 players and four players on the 60-day DL.

Orr, 33, spent the last two years with the Phillies and Triple-A affiliate Lehigh Valley. With the Phillies he hit .253 with nine of his 38 hits being extra-base hits.

Lerud, 28, played almost the entire season with Double-A Reading. Lerud did get 10 at-bats with the Phillies, notching a pair of singles.

Misunderstood: Scott Rolen Left a Lasting Impression On Philadelphia

Scott Rolen in his days with the Phillies. (AP Photo)

Perhaps it was the clashing of personalities with manager Larry Bowa. Or maybe it was the comment made by front office member Dallas Green. Or maybe it was the desire to win that ended it all in Philadelphia.

Whatever the reason was, Scott Rolen wanted out in 2002.

For the next decade, Philadelphia fans would boo their once-lauded All-Star, Gold-Glove third baseman, yell obscenities at him and watch him go on to hav a successful career without Philadelphia. Why? Because they were hurt.

But maybe the fans were booing the wrong guy.

Rolen turned down a massive contract extension during the 2002 season, saying that it wasn’t money but the Phillies front office didn’t have an aggressive approach to building a winning team.

Fans got scared that the best position player in their team history since Mike Schmidt, another third baseman, was about to jump ship for greener pastures.

And it happened.

Series Preview: at Toronto Blue Jays

PHI: 31-34, 5th in NL East; TOR: 31-32, 5th in AL East

When: June 15-17
Where: Rogers Centre (Toronto, ON, Canada)

Probable Pitchers
Friday: Vance Worley (3-2, 3.00) vs Drew Hutchison (5-3, 4.66)
Saturday: Cliff Lee (0-3, 3.18) vs Ricky Romero (7-1, 4.15)
Sunday: Kyle Kendrick (2-6, 5.08) vs Henderson Alvarez (3-6, 3.87)

Broadcast Info
Friday, 7:07, CSN
Saturday, 1:07, CSN
Sunday, 1:07, PHL 17
All Games on 94.1 FM

Spring Training: Blue Jays 8, Phillies 5

2B Hector Luna, playing for a spot on the roster, makes a play in the infield. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

John Mayberry Jr was in a terrible slump heading into the final weekend of Grapefruit League play.

That’s why a big weight was lifted off his shoulders in the 7th inning when he snapped a 19-at-bat hitless streak in the Phillies 8-5 loss. It was his only hit in his three at-bats, lifing his spring average .192.

Roy Halladay made his final start before Opening Day on Thursday but lasted only two innings and 45 pitches before a rain delay. He allowed two runs on three hits, including a solo home run to Edwin Encarnacion in the 2nd inning.

Hector Luna, playing second base and for a shot to crack the Opening Day roster, went 2-for-3 to lift his spring average to .327.

Season Preview: AL East

Expectations: Better than the Yankees
Key Addition: 1B Carlos Pena (signed from Chicago Cubs)
Key Loss: OF/DH Johnny Damon (free agent)
Projected Record: 103-59
Summary: The odds on favorite to win the division, the Rays have it all: great young hitting, great young pitching, solid veteran presence. With guys like Evan Longoria, BJ Upton, and Desmond Jennings anchoring the offense along with key players like Ben Zobrist and Sean Rodriguez, it will power them to a division crown.

They can also pitch with any team. David Price (my pick for CY Young in 2012) combined with James Shields and youngster Jeremy Hellickson can pitch with the big boys any day of the week. Most exciting prospect to watch is in their rotation too: Matt Moore. The kid has electric stuff.

Spring Training: Blue Jays 10, Phils 2

The Phillies managed 12 hits, but could only plate two in their 10-2 loss to the Blue Jays.

Lou Montanez continued his torrid spring, going 3-for-4 with a double and run scored. Shane Victorino had the only other extra base hit, a triple in the 1st inning.

Cole Hamels was hit around in the start, allowing five runs, four earned in 3 1/3 innings of work.

Jose Contreras made his spring debut, giving up four runs on four hits while pitching only 1/3 of an innings. He faced five batters.

Phillies send Francisco to Toronto

The Phillies recent moves in the outfield squashed Ben Francisco further and further down the totem poll.

With it still understood the Phillies aren’t done signing position players, the Phillies have traded Francisco to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for reliever Frank Gailey.

Gailey was born in Philadelphia and drafted by the Blue Jays in the 23rd round of the 2007 amateur draft.

The 26-year-old has never made it to the big leagues, making it as high as Double-A ball last season. Last season he was 5-6 with a 3.41 ERA and 61 strike outs in 74 innings.

In two and a half major league seasons with the Phillies, Francisco batted .259 with 17 homers and 75 RBIs. He was the opening day starter in right field last season for the Phillies but the emergence of John Mayberry, Jr and the trade for Hunter Pence immediately made Francisco’s value seem replaceable to the Phils.

Francisco’s biggest shining moment in red pinstripes came during Game 3 of the NLDS last October. His three-run pinch-hit homer off Jaime Garcia gave the Phils a 3-0 lead en route to a 3-2 win and 2-1 series lead against the eventual champion St. Louis Cardinals.

Bautista Bombs Phils

Toronto's Eric Thames celebrates with Jose Bautista and Adam Lind after hitting a game-tying homer in the 8th. Bautista followed up with the go-ahead blast. (Photo by Abelimages/Getty Images)

Twice Jose Bautista gave the Blue Jays a late-game go ahead home run and twice the Blue Jays pitching squandered the blasts during this series.

But this time, Bautista gave the Blue Jays a lead with a long fly and the rest of the offense decided to tack runs on and help secure a lead for the Blue Jays.

Toronto hit three home runs and scored four runs in the bottom of the 8th off of Cliff Lee and held on to prevent the sweep to the visiting Phillies with a 7-4 victory.

Bautista’s home run, his 27th of the season, gave Toronto a 5-4 lead. It followed Eric Thames’ game-tying solo blast and preceded a two-run shot by Edwin Encarnacion.

Fireworks for the Halladay

Halladay went the distance against his former team in the city that made him a star. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)

The ovation lasted through out his warm up. It even carried to the first pitch strike Roy Halladay threw to lead off hitter Aaron Hill.

But at that moment, it was strictly business for Doc.

Though the outing wasn’t pretty, it was what the Toronto fans remembered most about Halladay: grit and an unwavering attitude when a few runs cross the plate.

It was Halladay’s day and the Phillies offense made sure of that, providing him with the magic number four runs as they beat the Blue Jays, 5-3, Saturday afternoon.

Once again, the Blue Jays spoiled a go ahead two-run homer by Jose Bautista. After Toronto took a 3-2 lead in the 5th, Chase Utley ripped a two-run homer in the 7th to give the Phils the 4-3 lead.

The day still belonged to Halladay, who went the distance en route for his 11th win on the season. He allowed three runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out eight.

But the attention quickly turned from Halladay to the umpires. After a releiver Jon Rauch was ejected for arguing a call with home play umpire Alfonso Marquez, the fans went on a Philly-esque tirade and started throwing stuff on the field. This all happened an inning after a Canadian fan ran around on the field like an idiot.

See? We aren’t the only city to boast stupid sports fans. It will be a cold day in hell tomorrow if this is on Sports Center.

2B: Rollins (14), Ruiz (9). HR: Utley (4).

WP: Halladay (11-3). LP: L. Perez (1-1).

Boxscore.