Paul Hagen

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies have the best record in baseball. At this point of the schedule, that's nice. Along with a buck, it will get you a copy of the Philadelphia Daily News at any retail outlet in the area.

What it does not guarantee is that the National League All-Star team will be overstuffed with Phils when the rosters are announced Sunday. Some of that is happenstance. Some of that is because, for the first time in three years, Charlie Manuel will not be managing the NL squad and thus will not be in a position to lobby for his own guys.

He hasn't pitched in his first professional game yet. The Phillies spent a 17th-round draft pick to select him out of the University of Nebraska in 2010 even though his career earned run average was 4.72, his mechanics were a mess and, oh yes, he had just had Tommy John elbow surgery.

It started innocently, as many traditions do. Thirty years ago, baseball barely observed St. Patrick's Day during spring training. Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley, proud Irishman that he was, always made sure that corned beef and cabbage was the dinner entree at Dodgertown in Vero Beach. That was about it.

And then Tug McGraw decided to have a little fun.

It's a well-worn tale by now. How McGraw, who had proclaimed St. Patrick's Day his favorite holiday, conspired to have his entire uniform dyed green the night before. How at the old Jack Russell Stadium on March 17, 1981 -- although the exact year remains a point of contention -- he came in to pitch wearing his special duds. How nonplussed umpire Nick Colosi waved him off the field.

PHILADELPHIA -- Baseball teams must be built for the long slog of a season that covers summer like a tarpaulin, opening in the damp and chill of late spring and not ending until autumn has announced its presence. It is a daily drama that unfolds slowly. That's why the ability to grind it out is more valued than sporadic flash and sizzle.

Here's a little something to think about during the next rain delay. Or while waiting for the West Coast games to start during the next week.

Just for fun, let's suppose that going into the final weekend of the regular season at Atlanta's Turner Field, the Phillies and Braves have the same record. And that both have already clinched a playoff spot with a four-game lead in the wild-card standings.

Charlie Manuel, when asked on June 8 whether Jayson Werth's impending free agency could be contributing to his slump:

"In some ways, it has to. I definitely think that. In know in his mind he thinks about it."

Even before Kyle Kendrick got blasted in his latest start, a scout who followed the Phillies closely late in spring training and in the early days of the season offered an interesting insight about Kendrick and Cole Hamels.