Kendrick recalled as Eyre goes on disabled list for Phillies

Scott Eyre is out.

Kyle Kendrick is in.

The Phillies summoned Kendrick yesterday from Triple A Lehigh Valley to replace the injured Eyre, who strained his left calf muscle Thursday night in New York and was placed on the 15-day disabled list yesterday.

A starting pitcher in his previous incarnation with the Phillies, during which he won 21 games in two seasons, Kendrick will give the NL East leaders flexibility out of the bullpen, according to manager Charlie Manuel.

"We needed some length [in relief]," said Manuel. "We felt like with all the interleague play coming up, we might get in a situation where we would need someone to pitch 1 to 4 or 5 innings . . . Our reports are that Kendrick has been throwing the ball pretty good."

Sent down to Triple A in spring training, Kendrick started 12 games for Lehigh Valley, and was 4-4 with a 4.03 earned run average. While he was upset not to have won a job in Clearwater, he has worked on his off-speed stuff.

But, in the unusual role of reliever, Kendrick gave up three runs in the 13th inning last night, and took the loss in his first game back.

The 24-year old has had an up-and-down career with the Phillies. Two years ago he led all NL rookies by winning 10 of 14 decisions. Last year, he won 11 games but struggled as the season wore on.

He said he was "very happy" with the consistency he showed at Lehigh Valley. Asked what he has to do to stay now that he has been promoted, Kendrick said: "Pitch good and help the team . . . Just come up here and do my thing."

So what happened to Eyre?

He had no comment yesterday.

But Manuel said that Eyre apparently hurt himself when he came out of the bullpen at Citi Field for his 600th career appearance. He pitched to one batter and got the win but told Manuel that he had injured himself.

"Basically, he came off the field and said, 'I hurt my calf,' '' said Manuel, who added that Eyre has had "tightness" in that area before. "It could be more than 15 days [on the DL]." *