From the dripping sub-basement of baseball news came the announcement on Monday: The Phillies were adding a veteran all-star to their pitching staff.
On August 10, 2011 in L.A., Vance Worley spotted the Dodgers five runs in the top of the first, but the offense bailed him out by quietly wailing on Chad Billingsley for a couple of innings until Ryan Howard could get his head on straight and hit the two-run blast that gave them the comeback win. But across the continent in Toronto’s Rogers Centre, something even more special was happening: 21-year-old pitching prospect Henderson Alvarez bounced from the Blue Jays’ AA affiliate all the way to his first major league start.