Still counting down to the deadline

WASHINGTON – Let me start with a message to all of the residents of the District of Columbia: I support your fight for proper representation on Capitol Hill. I’m right there with you, Washington, D.C.

There, I’m glad I got that off my chest.

Anyway, it’s still hot and steamy down here (again, it’s a swamp) and there is plenty of hustle and bustle. In fact, there’s so much going on that the last Phillies’ bus from the hotel did not arrive at the ballpark until 4:50 p.m.

Anyone want to guess who was on it?

Meanwhile, a few of the Phillies are hoping that they aren’t on a bus to the airport to send them to a new team in another city. It’s very interesting – there isn’t a single guy on the Phillies (at least the guys I talked to) that wants to be traded. A few have even joked about hiding in their lockers or making a break for the backdoor when Thursday’s 4 p.m. deadline creeps closer.

The guys on the Phillies really like playing here.

And based on the rumors and all the talk around the ballclub, it seems as if all of them will continue to play for the Phillies beyond the trading deadline. The latest hot talk involves Braves’ lefty Will Ohman, but the exchange pieces include minor leaguers…

Well, not all of them are minor leaguers now.

So the song and dance continues here in The District, though it’s pretty clear the Phillies will not pull off a deal like the one the Yankees and Tigers figured out on Wednesday afternoon. In that one, the Yanks got the catcher they needed in Pudge Rodriguez and the Tigers got to take Kyle Farnsworth off the Yankees’ hands.

Nope, Manny Ramirez is not coming to Philadelphia.

Besides, if given his druthers, manager Charlie Manuel says he wants a big-time starter.

“And I mean a really big-time starter,” Charlie said before Wednesday’s game.

Charlie noted that the Phillies aren’t too different than other teams in that regard -- everybody wants a big-time starter. Short of that, however, Charlie says he’ll take “a good bullpen piece.”

“The stronger we make our bullpen the less often we have to depend on our starters to go deep into a game,” he said.

Hey, why not get both? A starter and a bullpen piece… while they’re at it, how about a power-hitting third baseman, too?

OK… we’ll have more on the developments here in the 51st state as it warrants. Stay close to your computers, folks.

Bloggy blog

Phillies fans had dreamed of a rotation for 2008 with Curt Schilling penciled in behind ace Cole Hamels. According to the latest news coming from Boston, the Philly fans can keep on dreaming. According to the Boston Globe and Boston Herald, Schilling and the Red Sox are close to striking a deal to keep the right-hander in Boston for another year. The deal, reportedly, is a one-year incentive-laden one which could be contingent upon Schilling passing a physical.

Though the Phillies coveted Schilling - and the pitcher had expressed interest in returning to Philadelphia - it was no secret that the righty's first choice was to return to the Red Sox.

Schilling, who turns 41 on Nov. 14, went 9-8 with a 3.87 ERA in 24 starts for the Red Sox in 2007.

Keeping priorities straight According to The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, the Phillies have not placed a premium on bolstering the third base position this winter. Instead, general manager told reporters from the General Manager meetings in Orlando that he has a bigger fish to fry:

"Because we're going to concentrate on improving our pitching," Gillick told the Inquirer.

According to reports, this winter's free-agent crop of third basemen includes Alex Rodriguez and Mike Lowell. Potential trade candidates include Miguel Cabrera, Garrett Atkins, Hank Blalock, Adrian Beltre, Miguel Tejada and Joe Crede. But Gillick said he believes the Phillies can make it through the season with Wes Helms and Greg Dobbs at third with the thought of adding a defensive specialist to come into games during the late innings.

As far as the pitching goes, the Phillies' reported priority remains to re-sign reliever J.C. Romero.

More baseball notes... Longtime Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal has sparked the interest of the Toronto Blue Jays. ... Meanwhile, Lieberthal's former Phillies teammate, Scott Rolen, has reportedly been listed as a darkhorse candidate to replace Alex Rodriguez at third base for the New York Yankees. The report fails to mention that Rolen has an iron-clad no-trade clause in his contract. Nevertheless, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Rolen could waive the no-trade clause (or have the Cardinals buy it out) so that a deal could be struck to take him far away from manager Tony La Russa.