Jan. 18 -- DON'T GO CHANGING

So, Kyle Kendrick doesn't want to change a thing from 2007, and why should he? Last year was like a fairy tale for the 23-year-old right-hander, who rose from the obscurity of a non-40-man roster player in double-A to lead NL rookies with 10 wins and become the Phils' first rookie 10-game winner since Pat Combs. You never mess with good juju.

But baseball history is littered with overnight successes whose careers flamed out almost as quickly as they bloomed. Take Combs, for instance. After going 10-10 with a 4.07 ERA in 1990, he won only three more games and was out of the majors by 1993.

Kendrick stopped by the Bank yesterday to kick off the Phillies' winter promotional tour (Chris Coste was there, too. More on him later). And while I wrote plenty about Kendrick in today's 50-center, some interesting stuff didn't make the cut. So, in our first 2008 edition of Newspaper Outtakes, here are some Kendrick leftovers ...

* It took a while for Kendrick to get over Game 2 of the NLDS, and although he says "it's over and done with," it was clear he's still thinking about it. You'll recall that Kendrick lasted only 3-2/3 innings before being lifted by Charlie Manuel with the bases loaded in the fourth. Kyle Lohse, promptly served up a grand slam by Kazuo Matsui, and the Rockies cruised to a 10-5 win en route to their three-game sweep. "Obviously, I didn't do my job, but it's a new season and I hope we get there again," Kendrick said. "It took a while [to get over it]. Any time you lose, it sucks. But you've got to move on. Charlie's a great manager. I respect Charlie a lot. He knows what he's doing. It was the right move [to put in Lohse]. It's over and done with."

* After throwing a career-high 202 innings last season (between the minors and majors), Kendrick said he started throwing later than usual in the offseason. But he has been hanging out with veteran Jamie Moyer, who lives about an hour from his Seattle-area home. They went to a Seahawks game together in October, and they've had dinner and talked about how best to prepare for a new season. As you know, Moyer has been around for a while.



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Here's more on the one-year contracts signed by Brad Lidge and Ryan Madson, and the transcript of Chase Utley's chat with fans on the Phillies' Web site yesterday.