J.A. Happ loses to Coghlan

The NL Rookie of the year award winner was just announced. Florida outfielder Chris Coghlan (105 points) edged Phils lefty J.A. Happ (94 points).

Happ was 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA this season.

In the twisted way the voters (managers and coaches) cast their ballots, Jimmy Rollins apparently couldn't win a Gold Glove until he had an MVP season with the bat.

Rollins won his third straight Gold Glove Wednesday afternoon. He is the first to win three straight in the NL since Rey Ordonez (97-99).

Shane Victorino is also a repeat winner. The Flyin' Hawaiian is the just the second Phils outfielder to be honored the Gold Glove more than once: Gary Maddox won eight straight (75-82).

Former Phillies speedster Michael Bourn was on his first Gold Glove. Bourn was traded to the Astros two years ago in the deal that netted the Phils Brad Lidge.

Hot off the press from the Phils:

The Phillies have declined the 2010 option on third baseman Pedro Feliz’ contract, Senior Vice President & General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. announced tonight.

Feliz, 34, batted .266 with 12 home runs and 82 RBI in 158 games for the Phillies this past season. With runners in scoring position, he hit a team-best .336, which ranked 13th among all National League players.

“This doesn’t preclude us from bringing Pedro back next season,” Amaro said. “While this allows us to explore other opportunities, we will continue to keep the lines of communication open with Pedro and his representative.”

Phils general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. announced tonight that three Phils have surgeries scheduled for this week: Brad Lidge (elbow), Raul Ibanez (sports hernia) and Scott Eyre (elbow).


Eyre and Lidge have similar ailments - loose bodies in their pitching elbows.

Ibanez first suffered a groin injury in June and battled his health in the second half of the season.

Waiting on a call back from Amaro to see how long each of the players' respective recovering/rehab times is estimated to last.

The Brett Myers' era has ended in Philadelphia.

Shortly after debriefing the press on several offseason issues, Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. met with Myers and told him the team would be "moving in a different direction."

Myers was 73-63 with a 4.40 ERA in eight seasons in Philadelphia. The 29-year-old, whom the team selected with the 12th pick in the first round of the '99 draft, was shuttled in and out of the bullpen in his last three seasons.

Myers went 4-3 with a 4.84 ERA in 18 games (10 starts) this season. Myers missed three months while recovering from early-June hip surgery; upon returning in September, Myers missed another three weeks with a shoulder strain.

Myers was in the final year of a three-year, $25.75 contract extension signed in February of '07.

More from Amaro on Myers in Saturday's Daily Times...

As expected, the Phils are retaining Cliff Lee for 2010.

Lee, who was in the last year of a 4-year, $15 million deal, had a $9 million option for '10 in that contract. Being that he went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA in 12 regular season starts and 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five playoff games, Lee was an easy decision for the Phils.

The team also holds a club option on Pedro Feliz ($5 million); GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told reporters the Phils are still in the process of deciding whether or not to pick that option up (there's a $500,000 buyout). The Phils may be exploring an upgrade or at least someone who brings more versatility (Mark DeRosa and Chone Figgins, both free agents, would be attractive because of their ability to play 2B and the outfield, along with 3B).

Amaro said the team has until Monday to decide on Feliz's option.


Also: Plenty of Phils are getting end-of-the-season exams that could lead to surgery.

The surprise was Brad Lidge. He'll have his elbow examined.

Amaro believes Lidge might have the same ailment as Scott Eyre - a loose body in his pitching elbow. If both need to have surgery to clear loose bodies in their arms, it is not expect to be the kind that would keep either from being ready to go for '10.

Raul Ibanez was also expected to have his groin/abdomen looked at. The team could know as early as Monday whether he would need to go under the knife, too.


As for roster makeup, here's a story in today's Daily Times.

What's there to say? The better team won the World Series.

The Phils met their match in the big, bad New York Yankees.

New York's baseball goliath battered and bloodied Pedro Martinez early and often en route to a 7-3 victory to clinch the storied franchise's 27th World Championship. Hideki Matsui led the offensive onslaught with six RBIs, including a two-run home run in the second that got NY off and running.

The game ended about 90 minutes ago and they juuuuussst stopped playing "New York, New York" on the one-year-old stadium's P.A. system. Hey, I like Frank as much as anyone, but talk about overkill....

The Phils lost the best-of-seven series in six games, which is nothing to be ashamed of, for sure.... especially against a 103-win team, the best team money can buy.

But let's face it: the Phillies' sore spots reared their ugly bats and arms in the series.

In Game 6, their on-again, off-again problem of hitting with runners in scoring position crept back into play. While the Yanks jumped out to a 7-1 lead off Pedro, the Phils left runners in scoring position in three of the first six innings and grounded into inning-ending double plays in two other innings.

In other spots during the series, the two pitchers who followed career years with off years, Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge, showed off their '09 form. But don't forget Phillies fans: without either of those two guys, you don't beat the Rays in the '08 Series.

Anyway, it's clearing out time. I'll end per usual in the postseason, with some sounds from the clubhouse.

Until next time...

CHASE UTLEY, the Phils' best player in the Series with a record-tying five home runs" "Obviously we didn’t accomplish our ultimate goal, but I’m proud to be teammates with everybody in this clubhouse right now.... I want to reiterate, we didn’t accomplish our goal that we set out for this season, but we got to a spot where a lot of teams don’t ever get the chance to be. For that we should all hold our heads high."


SHANE VICTORINO, whose ground out to second accounted for the game and season's final out: "We would have loved to win again for the city and for us, but unfortunately we didn’t."



RYAN HOWARD, on an offense gone cold other than the home run ball: "We didn’t capitalize on certain situations, getting runs home. They went out there and got hits in certain situations... It’s pretty simple. We just got outplayed."




BRAD LIDGE, on watching the Yanks celebrate: "It’s makes us remember last year when we were able to do it ourselves… it makes us realize how close we were this year. We came really close. I think everyone of us feels like we have the capability of doing it again next year and hopefully for a while afterward. We’re very proud of what we accomplished. We ended up a little short of the goal."




CHARLIE MANUEL, on what went wrong in the Series: "We went through the playoffs, we played real good, and all of a sudden when we got to the Series, and I give credit to some of the Yankees' pitching, but it seemed like our offense... kind of sputtered a little bit.
"But at the same time, their left-handed pitchers, I felt like did a good job on our left-handed hitting and stopped them, and that is a big part of our offense. But at the same time, I felt like they have a real good team, but they definitely deserved to win. They did things right when they had to. We just didn't play as good as we can, but at the same time, we also played a real good team who did a good job, and they've had a great season.
"Like I was telling our guys in there, that just makes us more determined to come back again next year. We've got a good team, and we love to play baseball. I'll tell you, the time I've had there especially about the last three years, it's been really enjoyable to coach and manage our team because of who we've got on our club. I'll tell you something, we will be back. As Mac Arthur said, I guess, we will be back."