--1B Ryan Howard injured his left quadriceps while legging out a fielder's choice in the 10th inning Wednesday night against Washington. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said he may have to rest Howard in Thursday's matinee. Howard, being treated in the trainer's room, was unavailable for comment.

--Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has no regrets about the expletive-laced tirade he directed at a local talk-radio host after Tuesday night's loss at Citizens Bank Park. Manuel was frustrated by relentless questioning about his motivational tactics from Howard Eskin of WIP-610. He invited his critic into his office for a tongue-lashing that continued in the clubhouse, where Manuel had to be restrained by several coaches and team officials. "That's something that's been going on for close to three years," Manuel said of Eskin's often-unfair criticism. "First of all, he doesn't even know who I am or anything about me. I don't listen to his radio show, but he can say anything he wants about me and call me names or anything he wants to. I take offense to that. He went over the line."

Manuel insisted his blow-up was a spontaneous reaction to continuous personal attacks, not a premeditated stunt to fire up his struggling team. "I've had a lot of confrontations in this game," Manuel said. "I'm 63 years old, but at the same time, I've still got that same passion. It all gets back to people don't know me. They see me around the ballpark and say, 'Look, there's Good Time Charlie' or 'Take-It-Easy Charlie,' 'Laid-Back Charlie,' 'Uncle Charlie,' 'Grandpa Charlie,' whatever. The only way you ever get to know somebody is to be around them and communicate with them."

--RHP Freddy Garcia allowed three runs and threw 95 pitches in only 4 2/3 innings in his long-awaited Phillies debut Tuesday night. But pitching coach Rich Dubee said he was pleased with the performance. Garcia's velocity, a concern during spring training, topped out at 91 mph. "You hear things from the grapevine about how guys step it up when the lights go on, and that's probably a tag Freddy has," Dubee said. "From what I saw, that's probably true. His arm played a lot better than it had all spring, and he gave us a chance to win."

--RHP Clay Condrey and RHP J.D. Durbin, designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and were outrighted to Class AAA Ottawa. Condrey has until Saturday to report, and he has the right to opt for free agency. Durbin will pitch in extended spring training before going to Ottawa.

BY THE NUMBERS
69 -- Walks through 11 games for the Phillies, most in the majors.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"We need kids to look at Ryan Howard, look at Jimmy Rollins and see that African-Americans can play baseball, too. It's sad to see how low the numbers have gotten. It shouldn't be where it is." -- Phillies closer Tom Gordon on the declining number of African-American players in the majors.

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