Flash Gordon signs with the D-backs

At least he got himself a ring.

Former Phillies closer Flash Gordon signed a one year, $500,000 deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Gordon, a 20 year veteran, spent the last 3 seasons with the Phillies and racked up 42 saves. Gordon signed on to be the Phillies closer back in 2006 and put together one good season followed by a pair of injury-riddled mediocre years. He finished last season with a 5.16 ERA.

I wish I could say that we will miss Gordon, but I'm glad to see him go. He was a forgotten man last year after he went down with injury; few fans even remembered he was on the team at all in 2008 despite starting the season as the closer and pitching nearly 30 innings. The only memory fans likely have of Gordon in 2008 is his pathetic effort on Opening Day.

With the emergence of Brad Lidge as a dominating closer and the bullpen locking games down late, it's a new era in the Phillies pen. Enjoy Arizona, Flash, the Phillies can't wait to face you.

Phillies injury update: Gordon, Seanez, Feliz, Benson

Plenty of Phillies are dealing with injuries, so it's time to update how they are doing:

Gordon's Phillie career over? We may have seen the last of Flash in a Phillies uniform. Tom Gordon got a second opinion on his faulty elbow, and it wasn't good news: Flash is likely done for the year. Gordon has chosen to try to rehab his arm rather than have surgery, but there is very little chance he will return to the Phillies this year, if ever. The Phillies have the option to buy out Gordon for 1 million dollars rather than pay him 4.5 million next year, so it looks like we have seen the last of Flash in Philadelphia. This also could be the end of his career, considering his age and the fact that he might have Tommy John surgery if the rehab doesn't go well. Flash hasn't been great over the last year, so many Phillie fans won't be shedding any tears, but when healthy and effective, he made a great late inning option.

Seanez close to returning Rudy Seanez is one reliever not facing such dire circumstances. Seanez pitched in a rehab assignment on Monday and appears ready to come back to the Phillies on Saturday. Seanez was pitching terrible when the Phils put him on the DL, hopefully he just needed to get healthy and he will be useful again. His return will likely force Les Walrond back into the minors, which isn't really a bad thing.

Feliz not ready yet Pedro Feliz has been on the DL since late July, but he still isn't ready to return. Feliz has had back issues, and while he has taken some swings in batting practice, he is still at least a week away from returning. Hopefully he can get back on the field soon, the flailing Phillie offense could really use his bat back in the line-up, and his defense is always excellent. His return would send Mike Cervenak back to the minors where he belongs.

Benson is set, but there's no room Kris Benson may finally be ready to return to the majors, but the Phillies don't need him. Benson has had several good starts in a row for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, but the Phillies, who would have been desperate for Benson's services about a month ago, have no room for him now. For once, the Phillies may even have a surplus of starters. The Phillies have been happy with the way their five starters are pitching, plus they have J.A. Happ ready to step in at any time, and they even have Adam Eaton waiting in the wings along with Benson. So while Benson might be poised to return, don't count on him suiting up for the Phillies this season.

Good pitching + a little bit of offense = Phillies win!

(AP Photo/Justin Maxon)

It wasn't pretty, but Kyle Kendrick got the job done. After being bombed for 7 runs in 4 innings the last time he faced the Marlins, Kendrick pitched 6 shutout innings to lead the Phillies to a 5-0 victory over Florida. Kendrick walked 5 batters and gave up 4 hits in those 6 innings, but he pitched his way out of jams and managed to strand every one of them. It was the third straight good outing for Kendrick who has pitched a combined 18 and 2/3rds innings in his last three starts and has given up only 3 total earned runs. I'm no math whiz, but that's an ERA of about 1.45 over his last three starts, and that's quite impressive. Of course, he has also given up a total of 18 hits and 8 walks in those starts, for an unimpressive 1.39 WHIP. He's been more lucky than good, but you can't argue with his 10-5 record.

For whatever reason, the Phillie offense has come up short time and time again when they get a good outing from their starting pitcher, but they managed to score often in the early innings to give Kendrick a nice cushion to work with. The Phils scored 4 runs in the first 3 innings, with one of those runs coming on Ryan Howard's 32nd homer of the season. Props should also be given to Mike Cervenak who got his first major league RBI on his first major league hit when he singled in the 6th inning. Cervenak is 31 and has spent several years in the minors, so you can bet he feels good about finally getting a little bit of playing time in the big leagues.

The win moves the Phillies back to 2.5 games ahead of the Marlins and 3 games ahead of the Mets, who also lost tonight. The final game of the Marlins series is tomorrow with Chris Volstad facing Cole Hamels, who is looking for a better outing than his effort against the Cardinals last Friday.

The Phillies also got some bad news tonight, which many Phillie fans will think is good news. Tom Gordon had to leave a rehabilitation appearance in a Single A game when he felt discomfort in his pitching elbow. Gordon will come back to Philly to have his arm checked out and could be out much longer than expected. Don't cry all at once, Phillie fans.

Seanez to the DL

Two days ago I called out Rudy Seanez and how bad he has pitched this month and now it looks like we won't be seeing him for a while. The Phillies placed Seanez on the 15 day disabled list with a shoulder inflammation. Supposedly Seanez hurt himself while making a tag in Thursday's game, but this could also just be a phantom injury to get him off the roster.

The Phillies called up Les Walrond from Triple A to replace Seanez. Walrond isn't a prospect at 31 years old, but he did strike out 17 batters in a start for Lehigh Valley in early July. Walrond previously pitched for the Royals and Cubs, going 25 total innings and putting up an ERA of 7.46.

There has been no word on Flash Gordon, who has been eligible to come off the DL for several days now, but he doesn't appear close to coming back.

Flash Gordon to the DL, C.C. to the Brewers

(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

Tom Gordon has been struggling recently, giving up a run to the Mets on Saturday that helped raise his ERA to 5.16 for the season, but it appears that injuries have been the reason for his poor pitching. On Sunday night Gordon was placed on the 15 day disabled list due to elbow inflammation. In his absence, expect Ryan Madsen and J.C. Romero to take over the 8th inning set-up duties. Perhaps Brett Myers could come up and be the set-up guy?

There is no word yet on who will take Gordon's spot on the roster, but it won't be C.C. Sabathia. Philadelphia had been a rumored destination for the 2007 AL Cy Young winner, but the Milwaukee Brewers appear to have won the C.C. sweepstakes. The Brewers have agreed to trade stud prospect Matt LaPorta and probably a few other minor leaguers in exchange for the big lefty. How serious the Phillies actually were in talks for Sabathia we will never know, but the Phils will have to turn their sights now to Erik Bedard or another lesser pitcher, like A.J. Burnett, if they want to shore up their pitching staff.

It could be a long season: Phillies bullpen shelled in Opener

Boy, the Phillies really know how to suck the excitement out of Opening Day. The Phillies Achilles heel, their pitching, reared its ugly head today as the Phils lost to the Nationals 11-6. The Phillies seemed in control of the game through the first four innings, as Brett Myers coasted and the offense put up two runs. Myers imploded in the 5th, when he loaded the bases on two singles and a hit batter. He ended up giving up 4 runs to allow the Nationals to take a 4-2 lead. Ryan Madsen pitched the 6th inning and gave up a two-run blast to Lastings Milledge to help the Nats expand their lead to 6-2.

The Phillies offense then took control, with homers by Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins to give the Phils a tie heading into the 9th inning. Then, Charlie Manuel made his first questionable call of the season and sent interim closer Tom Gordon out in a tie game. J.C. Romero had thrown only 12 pitches in the 8th, striking out two Nationals, and he seemed like the logical choice to go back out to the mound. Instead, Gordon was rocked, giving up 4 hits and 5 runs while only getting one out. The Phils offense was shut out in the bottom of the 9th, and Gordon took the loss to go with his 135.00 ERA.

This was not the start the Phillies were hoping for. The offense did its part, but the pitching looked like it did all spring: pathetic. Only Romero and Chad Durbin looked effective on the mound. Obviously, it's still very early in the season, so there is no need to panic, but it's sickening to see the one problem the Phillies have cost them the first game of the season.

The Phillies have an off-day tomorrow, and will look to bounce back against the Nationals on Wednesday with Cole Hamels facing off against Tim Redding.

Highlights of the game, from Comcast SportsNet:

Eaton, Gordon in midseason form

With only a handful of exhibition games left before Opening Day on Monday, the Phillies should be rounding into form. The hitters should be kicking it into high gear, and the pitchers should no longer be looking to "make their pitches", but instead looking for results. Someone forgot to tell Adam Eaton and Tom Gordon that the season starts next week, because both players got rocked today in the Phillies 14-5 loss to the Tigers.

Eaton, the Phils 5th starter by default, pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up 6 earned runs, upping his spring ERA to 7.41. Flash Gordon, the closer until Brad Lidge is healthy enough to return, gave up 6 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning to bring his ERA to 12.38. They were facing a scary-good Tigers team with no easy outs in their lineup, but there is no excuse to be getting shelled like that so close to the season. We've come to expect this kind of outing from Eaton, but the Phils are relying on Gordon to hold down the 9th until Lidge comes back. Even after Lidge returns, Gordon is supposed to be the setup guy, but he doesn't appear ready for any high leverage situations.

The only positive thing to happen today for the Phillies was a 3-run homerun by new third baseman Pedro Feliz. It was Feliz's 5th homer of the spring, and he looks like he will be a potent addition to the bottom of the lineup. He's going to hit about .250, but he will also hit 25-30 homeruns.

Here are "highlights" from today's ugly game, courtesy of Comcast SportsNet: