Ryan Madson News

In between countless telephone conversations and meetings about Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, the Phillies had an important issue simmering on the back burner: The bullpen.

One of the free agent relievers the Phils were said to have serious interest in, Brandon Lyon, has signed with the Astros for 3 years/$15 million pending a physical, Tweets FOX's Ken Rosenthal .

Just came from Ruben Amaro Jr.'s daily briefing with the Philly media, and there isn't much to report.

Last year, when baseball's winter meetings were held at the glitzy Bellagio in Las Vegas, Ruben Amaro Jr.

So, now that he has signed a backup catcher and a utility infielder , and secured Pedro Feliz's replacement at third base , what on earth will Ruben Amaro Jr.

The 3rd annual Phillies Caravan presented by The Air Products Foundation will be held on January 27, 2010 at Billera Hall on the campus of DeSales University .

BULLPEN: The Phillies have Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero under contract for next season.

In about eight hours - at midnight, to be precise - baseball's shopping season will begin.

Free agency begins in earnest on Friday, when teams are allowed to negotiate with and sign players from other clubs.

The Phillies' top priorities this offseason are to upgrade the bench, find a new third baseman, and retool the back end of the bullpen which was so good in their World Series-winning season two baseball years ago.

What's the connection? Every main closer in the playoffs had a major blowup that cost their team at least a late lead, if not the game itself.

Burnett puts the Yankees in a 6-1 hole three innings in, though not surprisingly, they rally from an 8-2 deficit to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth.

I feared throughout the regular season that Brad Lidge would blow the Phillies' chances at becoming the first team to repeat since the 2000 Yankees.

The Yankees' plan has not worked against Chase Utley. Or maybe the plan simply has not mattered.

Maybe this is just a one-night mirage, a short delay before the inevitable Yankees championship.

A mere 15 minutes after the Phillies were dethroned as the champions of baseball late Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, Ryan Howard was in the losing clubhouse at his locker sharing a laugh with batting practice pitcher Ali Modami and playfully giving a verbal jab to teammate Shane Victorino.

Derek Jeter occasionally wears postseason goat horns, too. Last night the Yankees captain had a chance to embellish his November legacy -- he is, after all, the original Mr.

Mark Teixeira swung at Ryan Madson's changeup, missed it, then tried to return to the Yankees' dugout after making the final out of Game 5 of the World Series.

Derek Jeter has teased Mark Teixeira about his rigid regimen, about his robotic approach to the daily grind of baseball.

The Phillies ' bullpen surely has had its ups and downs this postseason, but last night when starter actually went above the run total of his previous postseason starts, the bullpen bailed him out.