The Zo Zone

Justin Germano would have looked pretty good in a Phillies uniform.

If only.

The Phillies put him on waivers in March and the San Diego Padres claimed him March 19. Germano is 6-3 with a 3.55 ERA in 12 starts this season for the Padres. He faces the Phillies tonight at Petco Park, and said it would be nice to pitch well against a team that gave up on him.

Why in the world would the Phillies let Germano walk?

Here's what happened:

The Phillies had six starting pitchers in spring training: Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Freddy Garcia, Jamie Moyer, Adam Eaton and Jon Lieber. Nobody other those those six would make the rotation. So Germano's shot to make the team rested in the bullpen. In the seven-man bullpen there were six locks: Tom Gordon, Geoff Geary, Ryan Madson, Antonio Alfonseca, Matt Smith and the sixth starter (Lieber) or the relief pitcher the Phillies hoped they could acquire for Lieber. That left Germano competing for one job with Clay Condrey, Joe Bisenius and others.

At some point the Phillies decided Germano was comparable to pitchers like Condrey and Brian Sanches and would not make the bullpen. But because he had no options, it meant he would need to clear waivers before the Phillies could send him to triple-A Ottawa.

He did not.

The Padres claimed him, the only team in the majors to make a claim. But because the Padres also had no plans for him on the 25-man roster, they put him on waivers at the end of spring training. He cleared and the Padres sent him to triple-A Portland.

But the puzzling thing for the Phillies is this: Why did they put Germano on waivers in the middle of March? Typically, teams try to clear a player through waivers at the end of spring training because most teams have their rosters set and are less likely to make a claim. That seems to be the biggest mistake the Phillies made.

"He certainly has exceeded our expectations," Padres general manager Kevin Towers said. "When we got him, we were just hoping to get him into the system and hopefully be able to outright him off our roster and send him to triple-A for depth in case there was an injury. To say that we knew he was going to go out and have this type of success at the big-league level, he's certainly exceeded what we thought he could do. We hope he's able to keep it up."

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It's hard to believe, but the Phillies aren't the only team to make a mistake on talent. Shane Victorino is playing against two of his former teams this week: the Los Angeles Dodgers and Padres. Both teams let Victorino go in the Rule 5 Draft. The Phillies actually offered Victorino back to the Dodgers in 2005, but the Dodgers declined.

"It's being at the right place at the right time," Charlie Manuel said. "Baseball is funny. If I'm in the minor leagues and I miss on a player, I take that very personally. I do. I always have. There are guys that have probably been released and sent home that might have made it."

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I asked Manuel about any players that he fought for that one of his organizations might not have liked. He offered two names: Jim Thome and Brian Giles.

"I was in a meeting one day and they were talking about releasing Jim Thome," Manuel said. "I was the triple-A manager. I said I'm the triple-A manager and I'll keep him. He can play for me. And I stood up in a meeting one day and said Brian Giles is capable of hitting .300 and 40 home runs. Seriously."

Former Cleveland scout Jay Robertson, who now works for the Texas Rangers, thought Manuel was nuts when he made his claim about Giles. So nuts that he wrote Manuel's prediction for Giles on a piece of paper and put it in his wallet for safe keeping.

Giles hit 39 homers for Pittsburgh in 1999.

"Jay called me," Manuel said. "He said, 'I just had to call you. I have this note here in my wallet. He didn't hit 40, but that's close enough. I just couldn't believe when you said that that day.'"

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Hamels allowed two hits and one run in seven innings last night against the Padres ... and lost. The Padres won, 1-0, thanks to a strong performance from Chris Young.

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Hamels could become the franchise's first homegrown talent to win 20 games since Chris Short in 1966.

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Got a chance to talk last night with Harry Mayes and Jamie Yannacone (aka The 700 Level Sports Fanatics) on Sports Radio 950. Listen to the podcast here. Or I will kill you.