March 7 -- "SAY A PRAYER"

All you need to know about John Vukovich's long-standing value to the Phillies is that, from 1988 through 2004, he remained on the coaching staff, even though the team had six different managers during that 17-year span. "Vuke" was the Phillies' first-round draft pick in 1966. He made his major-league debut with the Phillies as a September call-up in 1970. And he was part of the Phillies' 1980 club that rode in a parade on Broad Street after winning the franchise's only World Series championship.

So, it rocked the organization in January when Vukovich, only 59, went into Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to be treated for a brain tumor. Out of respect for the privacy of Vukovich, his wife Bonnie, their children Nicole and Vince and the rest of their family, longtime Phillies PR honcho Larry Shenk asked the media not to write about Vukovich's illness. But today comes word from Clearwater that Vukovich's condition is grim.

"Say a prayer," Shenk said, and I'm sure Phillies fans everywhere will do just that.