Let the games begin

The Phillies are still more than two weeks away from reporting to camp, but the competition has already begun for the final spot in the bullpen.

It's a hard-fought battle that has started in sports pages via features on long-shot candidates.

Matt Gelb chose a real dark horse who would be a better story - Scott Mathieson is trying to come back from two Tommy John surgeries. And he's been helped by someone else competing for a spot - one of our favorites, Mike Zagurski, affectionately known here as Fattie:

He has spent the off-season working out with Zagurski, who is also rehabbing after Tommy John surgery, and Shawn Fcasni, the Phillies' minor-league strength and conditioning coordinator.

Mathieson and Zagurski play catch five times a week. To prepare, they each ride a treadmill for 10 minutes. No hot tub. No extra stretches. Just playing catch like old times.

And then they go home.

"It's pretty rare - most guys who have a second Tommy John, that's usually the end of their career," Mathieson said. "For me, I'm hoping it's just the beginning."

Scott Lauber, meanwhile, is casting his lot with Antonio Bastardo and takes a more analytical bent from Phillies assistant GM Chuck LaMar:

After getting called up in June, Bastardo threw his fastball 73.8 percent of the time, according to the statistical Web site FanGraphs.com. Even as a reliever, it's tough to make it in the majors with one pitch, so the Phillies wanted Bastardo to work on his breaking ball in the Dominican. Mission accomplished, LaMar said. Bastardo, 24, had a 1.50 ERA and six strikeouts in seven innings for los Gigantes del Cibao during the regular season, then fanned 12 batters over 7-1/3 scoreless innings in five appearances in the championship series against Escogido.

"There's no question he has the stuff to be a very successful major-league pitcher," LaMar said by phone. "He was able to come up last year and show the arm strength, especially from the left side, that can propel him to win a job. Now he's got to do it on a consistent basis. ... It's going to come down to having more than that fastball."

Christine is just waiting for someone to wise up and start touting Fattie. {Oh no, what do we call him if he has lost weight?}