Chasing Records

Tonight’s Lineup
Rollins, ss; Victorino, cf; Utley,2b; Howard, 1b; Burrell, lf; Jenkins, rf; Feliz, 3b; Ruiz, c; Eaton, p.

Chasing History
Home run for the fifth straight game, RBI for eighth straight game, three hits, two dazzling diving catches and one bone-jarring collision with an enemy catcher.

All in a night’s work for Chase Utley, who is also editing the Phillies record book.

The club record for homering in consecutive games is five, shared by Dick Allen (1969), Mike Schmidt (1979), Bobby Abreu (2005) and Chase, twice this season.  In those streaks, Allen and Abreu hit five homers, Schmidt, 7 and Utley had 6 in his April 17-18-29-20-21 streak.  He’s currently riding 5 in 5.

The club record for most consecutive games with an RBI is 10, shared by Pinky Whitney (1931) and Bobby Abreu (2005).  Three others have done it nine times: Whitney (1928), Don Hurst (1932) and Ryan Howard (2006, twice).

Draft Countdown
2 more days until the First-Year Player Draft.

2008 version of the draft begins at 2 on Thursday afternoon.  First day will end around 9 p.m.  Day two is Friday, 11:30 a.m. start until the final round is completed.

First round has 5 minutes between selections while the compensation round has 1 minute between selections.  Phillies first selection is estimated at 4:10 p.m.; compensation selection, estimated at 4:58 p.m.

Phillies Selections
 Round  Overall selection
 First   24
 Compensation 34 (Compensation for SF signing Rowand)
 Second   51 (Compensation for SF signing Rowand)
 Second  71
 Third  102
 Third  110 (Compensation for not signing their 3rd rounder last year, P Brandon Workman)
 Fourth  136
 Fifth  166 (24h selection in each succeeding round)

Media Coverage
 ESPN2, Thursday, 2:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.
 MLB.com, every round, both days

Lakewood Stars
RHP Drew Naylor, C Joel Naughton, OF Michael Taylor, DH Michael Durant have been named to the Northern Division team that will oppose the Southern Division in the South Atlanta League All-Star Game on June 17 in Greensboro, NC.

This Date
In Phillies history…..
1930    Phillies release RHP Grover Cleveland Alexander.
1972    Paul Owens, Director of the Minor League System, replaces John Quinn as General Manager.
1978    Davey Johnson becomes first pinch-hitter in major league history to hit two grand slam home runs in one season.  This one came in the ninth inning and gave the Phillies a 5-1 win over theDodgers at Veterans Stadium.  First one came April 30 with the score tied in the fifth inning of an 11-4 win over the Padres, also at the Vet.