The trading of Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence this week signaled that Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro came to grips with reality that the team needed an overhaul. But is he perhaps showing a little more fear than we'd like to see in today's decision to place starting pitcher Cliff Lee on waivers?

Source: Phillies have placed Cliff Lee on waivers. Executives expect him to clear Friday afternoon, be eligible for trade.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 2, 2012

Cliff Lee, heading out again?

By placing Lee on waivers Amaro is providing an option to work some more reconstruction on the roster for the 2013 season. Lee is expected to clear waivers on Friday and despite being out there for a team to claim, the likelihood of Lee leaving Philadelphia appears to be practically non-existent. Why? The Phillies are not going to pay a huge chunk of change in order for Lee to pitch for somebody else, and they have the ability to back out of any proposed deal unless they are completely floored by the offer. If a team is willing to take on Lee's entire paycheck, then we have a different scenario to explore, but at the price tag Amaro placed on Lee prior to the 2011 season, does anyone think that may happen?

All Amaro is doing here is giving himself options and room for improvement. The Phillies will clear some payroll by moving Victorino and Pence, and likely allowing Joe Blanton and Placido Polanco to walk at the end of the year. If a team offers to pick up the tab for Lee then even more room for some high quality free agent signings will be created, and for those who would be OK with a starting rotation of Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Vance Worley leading the way maybe that is good news. The Phillies need bats in the outfield and at third base in 2013. Maybe Domonic Brown comes on and finishes 2012 on a high note, relieving the need for one of the outfield position, but it seems more logical to expect the Phillies to try and make some solid signings in the off-season and hope for even a slight push at the plate that way.

Relax. Cliff Lee is not likely going anywhere. Of course, I also said there was no way Amaro would trade Cliff Lee after the 2009 season. Let's see what he has in mind here.

Shane Victorino was a player to move, but will not be kicked out in shame.

The Phillies traded Shane Victorino yesterday to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for right-handed reliever Josh Lindblom and Double A catcher Ethan Martin as well as a player to be named or cash. The deadline day deal seems like a pretty decent move for the Phillies, who I did not expect to re-sign Victorino after the year the way the 2012 season was playing out (the Hunter Pence trade I have a slightly different take on, but we'll explore that another time).

Victorino had been struggling this season on offense, on defense and running the bases. It may not have been pretty but Victorino may not have been quite as bad as some would have you believe. That said, the Phillies will be bringing in a relief pitcher (a clear area of need) and a prospect who could fit in to the picture in a few years. Yes, the Phillies were rightly labeled as "Sellers" this trade deadline, but stuck in the bottom of the division with such a huge hole to fill, Ruben Amaro had to make a move to get something for Victorino while he still could. Overall, this seems like a decent enough move.

As Victorino now finds himself in a playoff hunt in Los Angeles, perhaps he can provide some sort of spark and get back in to the mix the way he was during the Phillies' playoff runs in recent seasons. The change of scenery may be enough to relieve some pressure on Victorino, and hopefully that becomes the case.

Was Victorino the kind of player that should never be traded away? Of course not. Victorino was a nice find by Pat Gillick, developed nicely to become a stable player and dependable starter in the outfield. This season has been unkind to him, or it may be that he is on the decline. But Victorino's time as a Phillies player will not be forgotten, as he did provide many fond memories for Phillies fans, and his dedication to the community should never be overlooked.

Victorino may wear a different uniform, but there should be no reason to serenade him with a chorus of boos next season when he returns to Philadelphia with the Dodgers (assuming Los Angeles resigns him - I think that will be the case). Here is a look back at some of the top highlights from Victorino's time with the Phillies.

First, some quick honorable mentions:

Hawaii Five-O - Victorino's Hollywood debut came in the opening sequence to an episode of the re-launched Hawaii Five-O.

The Shane Victorino hula bobble figurine - Playing off his Hawaiian influence, of course.

Getting ejected from center field - You may never see this again, but Victorino managed to get thrown out from home plate umpire while standing in center field. Surely this did not sit well with radio analyst Larry Andersen.

5. Beer shower in Wrigley

File this under the "Didn't happen in Philly" category. Victronio, setting up to catch a fly ball to the ivy-covered outfield wall in Chicago's Wrigley Field, ended up getting soaked as a fan tossed a plastic cup of beer in his direction at the same time the ball was coming in. Fortunately the Gold Glove center fielder did not let it distract him as he recoreded the out in a 2009 regular season game.

The Phillies won an ugly game last night, and there is no other way to describe it. Atrocious base-running and poor fielding have doomed the Phillies all season, but somehow they were able to escape the unfortunate outcome Monday night in Los Angeles, beating the Dodgers 3-2.

First, the positives. Joe Blanton gave the Phillies eight innings and rarely gave up a big hit. The Dodgers scored on a wild pitch that slipped through the five hole of Carlos Ruiz and the only other run allowed probably came as a result of one of the missed defensive plays by the Phillies. But any time Blanton can give the Phillies eight innings of work and hand the game over to Jonathan Papelbon, that is a strong positive. He also snapped his streak of games with a home run allowed, which was ghastly.

Second, Ryan Howard hit his first home-run of the season, which gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead and proved to be the winning run. He is still not moving as nicely as you would like to see and his struggles at the plate continue as expected, but when Howard hits an opposite-field home run in Dodgers Stadium you have to feel good about something.

The Phillies have now won three games in a row for the first time in a very long time. Getting to four wins will now be the responsibility of Roy Halladay, who makes his first start off of the disabled list. I do not expect to see eight shutdown innings from Doc Tuesday night, and it remains to be seen just how well he does off the mound after a shaky 2012 season. We will see what he can do against a Dodgers offense that has struggled lately. Can he give the Phillies six good innings? That is probably realistic, but the offense will have to help him out in his return to the mound. Jumping to an early lead would certainly be nice as the Phillies look to win their fourth straight and take a series on the west coast before Cliff Lee goes for his second win of the season on Wednesday afternoon.

Now the negatives. The Phillies go in to today still 11 games under .500 and 15 games behind the Washington Nationals in the loss column. The focus should more realistically be on one of the National League's two wild card spots. In that hunt, the Phillies are ten games behind the Wild Card leaders. As I have said before, now that Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are back, and Roy Halladay joins the rotation once again tonight, you have to wonder if the chemistry can be sparked in enough time to make a run.

I am certainly not ready to count them out of the postseason just yet, but it will be a major fight to get in to the thick of things. It should start with playing better within the division, where the Phillies are 11-22 against NL East competition. Playing well this week and next week though will have a large say in whether or not we can continue to consider the Phillies to have a chance. Will the team trade Cole Hamels? Shane Victorino? Jimmy Rollins?

Let's see what they have in store.

Lenny Dykstra, the star of the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies, has pleaded guilty to three counts related to bankruptcy fraud, according to the Associated Press. Dykstra faces up to 20 years in prison and is scheduled for sentencing on December 3.

The charges Dykstra filed a guilty plea to included one count of bankruptcy fraud, another for concealment of assets and another for money laundering. All of this seems rather ironic as I am working through the latest season of Breaking Bad knowing that Dykstra had business ties to a car wash. He should have called Saul.

According to the report, Dykstra filed for bankruptcy and then hid, sold or destroyed more than $400,000 worth of items without permission of a bankruptcy trustee. Dykstra, of course, is already serving a three-year sentence following a no contest to grand theft auto and providing false financial statements.

The downfall of Dykstra should probably not be much of a surprise. He was always considered to be a "bad guy" in the sports world, and there certainly is little to be said in his defense when it comes to moral responsibility. Still, for a generation of Phillies fans who first latched on to following this team, and perhaps the sport and sports in general, Dykstra was a spark plug in 1993. His baseball achievements will still be remembered fondly, but nobody will cry a tear for him in his post-playing days.

Long before the Phillies and Cubs played a wild one in Wrigley Field, it was another Philadelphia baseball team that came out on top of a high-scoring outburst. Today marks the 80th anniversary of one of baseball's wildest games, in which the Philadelphia Athletics topped the Cleveland Indians 18-17 in 18 innings.

July 10, 1932: Shortstop Johnny Burnett of the Indians sets a major league record with nine hits, but his club loses, 18–17, in 18 innings to the Athletics at League Park in Cleveland. The two teams combine for a big league record 58 hits. With Sunday baseball illegal in Philadelphia, the Indians interrupt a swing through the East, and the A’s a long home stand, to travel to Cleveland for one game on a Sunday for what figures to be a large gate. To save on train fare, Athletics manager Connie Mack brings only two pitchers. He lifts starter Lew Krausse after the first inning, and reliever Eddie Rommel has to go 17 innings and allows 14 runs and 29 hits. To make matters worse, Rommel also pitched batting practice. Burnett sets the record with seven singles and two doubles. No one else has more than seven hits in a big league game. Burnett will finish his nine-year big league career with 521 hits and a .284 batting average.

Thanks to the wonders provided by Google, you can read the original game story in black and white.

Boxscore 

HT: Page-A-Day Calendar, The Hardball Times

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The Phillies may have picked up a big win keyed by a late-inning scoring outburst against the New York Mets, but the five-time reigning NL East champions remain 14 games back in the loss column against the Washington Nationals with a record of 36-46. That record also keeps the Phillies eight games out (nine games back in the loss column) of either of the two National League wild card spots in this year's postseason, with six teams to jump before cracking the top two wild card spots.

While getting Chase Utley back in the line-up is nice and the possibility of having Roy Halladay return to form once he returns and possibly having Ryan Howard back seems to be a positive thought, the reality is this team has shown their weaknesses and may have too many to dig out of the hole they currently are in right now. With the Phillies struggling the conversations about trading Cole Hamels have gotten hotter by the day (and by the loss). It is no surprise of course. Hamels is a free agent to be at the end of the season and it is unknown if the Phillies will make a commitment to retain the 2008 World Series and NLCS MVP that grew up through their farm system to become one of the dominant left-handed pitchers in the game.

So, if the Phillies are not destined to make a run for the postseason, and there is still time to get a feel for whether that could happen, should the team trade Hamels in exchange for some prospects, or even a player that can contribute now?

First and foremost, there is one key decision that absolutely needs to be made. Do the Phillies have a realistic shot at retaining Hamels, either by the end of the season or through free agency? If there is a strong feeling the Phillies, Hamels and his agent can agree to a new contract then it would be unwise to trade away Hamels unless the Phillies bring in a star player. This is unlikely because teams just do not give up on quality left-handed pitching that easily. Hamels is among the best lefties in the game and still at a good age in his prime.

Phillies fans around the Delaware Valley can rejoice. Todd Zolecki has the tweet of the day...

Qualls designated for assignment.

— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) June 28, 2012

It may have been just a matter of time...

Chad Qualls was not the lone reason the Phillies lost last night to the Pirates, but his woeful outing in the eighth inning killed any momentum that seemed to be building late in the game. Qualls allowed three runs in the eighth inning to allow the Pittsburgh Pirates to extend their 8-7 lead to 11-7. As he is designated Qualls holds a 4.60 ERA with a 1.53 WHIP. In 31.1 innings pitched Qualls allowed seven home runs and 16 earned runs and walked nine. For a guy brought in to be the eighth inning set-up man for Jonathan Papelbon, those just are not good numbers.

Joe Savery was also sent back to triple A Lehigh Valley after struggling with the Phillies this season.

In his place will step lefty Jeremy Horst. Horst appeared in 12 games for the Cincinnati reds last season, allowing five earned runs on 15.1 innings with six walks and nine strikeouts. This season with the IronPigs Horst has put together a 2-1 record with a 2.11 ERA and 1.59 WHIP and converted two of four save opportunities.

The Phillies also purchased the contract of Brian Sanches. Sanches appeared in three games this season for the Phillies, accumulating a high 11.25 ERA quickly in four innings of work. Sanches was hit hard by the Atlanta Braves (2.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R), Washington Nationals (1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R) and New York Mets (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R). 

Earlier today I vented about how the Phillies are trying to get by with a minor league bullpen. To be fair, it is not entirely their fault, and Qualls was not adding any veteran leadership. Maybe this will ultimately be more of the same, but something had to change. Whether or not this turns the direction of the bullpen around will be learned soon.

If nothing else, today gives the Phillies a fresh arm after a rough day on Wednesday.

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So, can he pitch out of the bullpen? Photo: Drew Hallowell/Getty Images

The buzz was expected and met with an appropriate action. With one seemingly majestic swing of the bat Chase Utley gave Phillies fans all over a sense of confidence that has been lacking all season long. Utley's solo home run in the top of the first inning seemed like a sports writer's dream as he stepped to the plate for his first at-bat of the 2012 season. Despite Utley's impressive 2012 debut (3-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR), which included some decent play in the field, it was once again a familiar story when all was said and done.

The Phillies made the unconscionable decision to get through a game with their bullpen, essentially forfeiting a game to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The decision came about due to Friday night's rainout. Rather than pitch Cliff Lee on Saturday and bump everybody back a day, Charlie Manuel put his team in a poor situation Wednesday night at a time when the Phillies cannot afford to give any games away in the standings. The Phillies were without a starting pitcher last night and instead of call up a starter from triple A Lehigh Valley or even double A Reading, a move that has been done in the past, Manuel decided to try and get lucky with his insufficient bullpen featuring minor leaguers Raul Valdes (2.0 IP, 3 ER, 1 HR), Joe Savery (2.2 IP, 5 ER, 1 HR), Michael Schwimmer (1.1 IP, 0 ER), and Jake Diekman (1.0 IP, 0 ER). While Schwimmer and Diekman got the job done while the offense started to put together a rally, it was painful to watch Valdes relinguish a 2-0 lead after one by allowing a three-run home run with two outs and the pitcher on-deck. Savery's five runs allowed in the fourth and fifth innings was nothing short of de-moralizing.

But the goat of the night, as he has been so often this season, was off-season free-agent pick-up Chad Qualls. As the Phillies started chipping away at Pittsburgh's lead, closing to within 8-7 after seven innings of play, Qualls etered the game with the task of holding on to the one-run deficit heading in to the bottom of the eighth.

Epic Fail.

The hopes of another postseason may rest on these two players.

We are creeping up on the All-Star Break and the Philadelphia Phillies, winners of five consecutive NL East Division championships, sit eight games behind the NL East leading Washington Nationals, and are ten games back in the loss column. At 35-40 the Phillies are in unfamiliar territory right now and just hoping to stay in the running for a postseason spot in the first year of the expanded playoffs with an extra wild card. Winning the division for a sixth straight season seems out of reach, and perhaps it is.

But is it impossible? No, but it is a steep uphill battle.

While this season has largely been negative, perhaps the second half of the season will be a different story. Here are some keys to a return to the postseason.

Chase Utley's return

Chase Utley is expected to return to the team on Wednesday, but how much can we really expect form him? More importantly, how stable will his knees be once he is back at the big league level and feeling the pressure of needing to pick the team up?

Eternal Optimistic Phillies Fan says Utley's return improves the team by having a player that has been a part of the core back at second base, leaving Michael Martinez and Mike Fontenot on the bench, where they belong. Even Utley at less than 100 percent should be better than having Martinez and/or Fontenot in the lineup, correct?

Maybe Utley's bat will be a fraction of what he is fully capable of (even in his downward trend at the plate) but he may be more capable of driving a ball to the outfield when needed to move a base-runner along and taking more pitches to get on base.

I'll take it, for now.

While Mother Nature delayed the start of Friday night's series opener between the Phillies and visiting Tampa Bay Rays, Twitter updates suggested that Citizens Bank Park had been struck by lightning.

Lightning jjust knocked the scoreboard out.

— Amanda Orr (@amandax23) June 23, 2012

I think we were just hit by lightning.

— Matt Gelb (@magelb) June 23, 2012

A huge crush of thunder/lightening was followed by a video announcement that the fire alarm had been activated and to leave the bldg #oops

— Leslie Gudel (@lesliegudel) June 23, 2012

Well, if that doesn't give the Phillies a spark at home, what will?