Phillies Notes: Phillies cautious in replacing Myers

The Phillies need another starting pitcher, whether he arrives via the farm system or a trade.

Ruben Amaro Jr.

knows this, but the general manager is determined to proceed carefully in his effort to replace

Brett Myers

.

"There is a little more urgency now," Amaro said yesterday, a day after Myers announced he would need surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip, making a return this season unlikely. The labrum is the cartilage that lines the socket of the hip joint.

The GM said he had spoken with other teams about acquiring a starter before Myers was hurt, and he is accelerating that process now.

"But we're not going to make a move just to make a move," he said.

The biggest difficulty in making a trade in early June is that few teams have conceded their season and begun to unload talent.

"It's always difficult to make a trade, but it's hard to find a partner right now because not many teams consider themselves sellers," said Amaro, who does not comment on trade rumors.

Amaro also did not eliminate the possibility that a pitcher already in the Phillies' system could be impressive enough to join the rotation.

"I'd like to have the best possible pitcher we can get," said manager Charlie Manuel, while reiterating the GM's wait-and-see approach. "I don't walk up to Ruben and say, 'Get me something.' I walk up to him and say, 'What's the chance of me getting something?' "

After the game, the Phillies said they would call up lefthander

Antonio Bastardo

from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to pitch in Myers' spot Tuesday against San Diego. There was no guarantee that Bastardo would stay with the Phillies beyond Tuesday's game.

This season, Bastardo is 3-2 with a 1.89 ERA in 11 games in Double-A Reading and Lehigh Valley.

With suspended lefthander

J.C. Romero

scheduled to return June 3, Manuel said the Phils might carry 13 pitchers for a short time. But because several relievers can pitch multiple innings in one appearance, the manager prefers a roster with 12 pitchers.

"You might need 13 pitchers for a while, but I don't think we can stay that way," he said. "At the same time, I look at our bullpen, and that's where Chan Ho Park, [Chad] Durbin, and [Clay] Condrey come into play. They can become two-inning pitchers for us.

"Then we have [Brad] Lidge, [Ryan] Madson, Romero, and Scott Eyre. . . . Durbin came in [Friday] night, and today we've got one of those other two guys that can come in and really stabilize the game, and we can keep our bullpen strong. We've got three pitchers who can go from the fifth to the seventh inning."

Missing from Manuel's impromptu list was Jack Taschner. The lefthander entered last night's game with a 3.92 earned run average, and 15 walks and 11 strikeouts in 20.2 innings.

Asked to evaluate Taschner's performance this season, the manager said: "Taschner's stuff is fine. I think he needs more game experience . . . to improve his command. I think his stuff is good."

Jamie Moyer

will make his sixth attempt to earn his 250th career win today. Though the 46-year-old lefthander has not won since April 26 in Florida, he has shown significant improvement in his last two appearances. When he posts his next win, he will be one victory behind

Bob Gibson

(251) for 45th on the all-time list.