Random thoughts ...

... while watching the Phillies play in Arizona.

* Eude Brito continues to be listed in the Phils' game notes as the starter Thursday in Washington. But I can't help thinking that Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee are mulling using Ryan Franklin instead. Consider this: Franklin, supposedly the seventh-inning reliever, wasn't used tonight in a 3-3 tie. Aaron Fultz pitched the seventh, and Rheal Cormier was warming in case Fultz faltered.

* One of these days, Arthur Rhodes will have a clean inning. Until then, he's going to give Manuel and Dubee heart attacks.

* I usually defend Bobby Abreu, but the Phillies are lucky it was Chase Utley, not Abreu, running (sprinting?) down the first-base line in the seventh inning tonight. Utley runs out every grounder, no matter how futile. And his hustle down the line allowed him to beat a throw from D-Backs 2B Orlando Hudson, which, in turn, allowed Jimmy Rollins to score the tying run. Utley once told me, "There's a 95 percent chance you'll be out, but you have to run hard for that 5 percent." That's just not in Abreu's nature.

* Speaking of Utley, he took over the lead in all-star balloting among NL second basemen. Why wasn't he in the lead to begin with? He's the best second baseman in the NL, if not the majors.

* It's not hyperbole when C Sal Fasano says he has never seen a player with more opposite-field power than Ryan Howard. I dare anyone to find a player who takes the ball the other way as often, or as effectively, as Howard.

* Cory Lidle's line -- 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 3 K -- was perfectly predictable. That's just about what Lidle does every time he takes the ball.