July 5 -- IS HOWARD DERBY-BOUND?

(To read/comment about the Phillies' All-Stars -- Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Howard, and possibly, Shane Victorino, please click here. To read more about Ibanez's rehab appearance Monday night at Class AA Reading, please click here.)

By SCOTT LAUBER

So, thanks to Charlie Manuel, Ryan Howard is headed to the All-Star Game on July 14 in St. Louis, his hometown.

But will he compete in the Home Run Derby?

"If they ask me to, I'll probably hop in there and do it," Howard said. "I think it would be fun to do it in my hometown."

Howard, of course, won the Derby in '06 in Pittsburgh. He was invited back in '07 in San Francisco, even though he wasn't selected to play in the All-Star Game, and finished seventh. The Phillies have had a player in the Home Run Derby in five consecutive years: Jim Thome (2004), Bobby Abreu (2005), Howard (2006, 2007), Chase Utley (2008). Abreu and Howard are Derby winners.

How much fun would it be to see Howard and Albert Pujols square off in the Derby? The local kid against the Cardinals star. Wonder who St. Louis would root for?