Mar. 17 -- SLUMP? WHAT SLUMP?

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Good morning, all. And, to our Irish friends, happy St. Patty's Day!

Spent a few minutes yesterday with Geoff Jenkins, one of the streakiest hitters you'll ever see. The reason? There are a lot of moving parts to his swing. Jenkins raises his front leg as a timing mechanism. He begins his swing when the pitcher breaks his hands. If he doesn't get his leg down just in time, his swing often is askew. Jenkins is prone to torrid stretches, but he also has had some horrid slumps during his 10-year major-league career. So, he isn't sweating a 4-for-35 funk that has dropped his spring-training average to .136.

You shouldn't either. Somehow, through all of his ups and downs, Jenkins' offensive numbers are almost always solid. He's a .277 hitter with 212 career home runs. Not a bad body of work.

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Walk into Charlie Manuel's office here, and you'll see a quote on the wall from legendary Billy Martin, his former manager with the Twins. It reads: "It's not a light bulb. You can't turn it on and off." Lately, Manuel has been repeating that refrain over and over, hoping his players will snap out of their spring-training funk and start playing more crisply as the season nears. He hasn't named names, but based on his one-on-one meetings, it seems he's most concerned about Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth and a few others. And, of course, he's worried about the Phillies' pitching. Brett Myers, meanwhile, said yesterday that he isn't worried about anything, that the Phillies will be able to flip the switch on March 31 when the season opens.

"I've been in this game 46 years. How long has Myers been in it?" Manuel said. "You don't turn it on and off. I know that. If he thinks he can do that, well, please do. Win us about 20-25 games."

Also, within this notebook, prospect Jason Jaramillo got a chance to catch Brett Myers yesterday in Sarasota and liked what he saw. Well, how could anyone not? Myers threw only 70 pitches and made it through the seventh innings, allowing only two runs. On March 16. That's impressive.

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Tip o' the hat to Delaware's own Ian Snell, who has agreed to a three-year contract extension worth at least $8 million with the Pirates. Safe to say Snell has come a long way since his days at Caesar-Rodney High.

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Shortly, Brad Lidge is slated to throw another batting-practice session here at the Complex. We'll let you know how that goes. Today's lineup against Indians' starter Cliff Lee: SS Jimmy Rollins, CF Shane Victorino, 2B Chase Utley, 1B Ryan Howard, LF Pat Burrell, 3B Pedro Feliz, RF Jayson Werth, C Carlos Ruiz, RHP Chad Durbin.