Only hours after being charged with felony possession of cocaine,Tony Phillips rejoined the Anaheim Angels at Comiskey Park, butPhillips was out of the starting lineup Tuesday night against theWhite Sox.
Indications are Phillips might not play again for some time andis probably headed for a drug-treatment facility and 15- or 30-daystint on the disabled list.
Shortly after the start of the game, the Angels announcedPhillips would not return to the lineup pending the outcome of hismeeting with doctors representing Major League Baseball and thePlayers Association. That came after Phillips and everyone connectedto the Angels issued a clear "no comment" about his plight."Whether it's myself, (manager) Terry Collins, Tony Phillips orour players, we have nothing further to say regarding the TonyPhillips situation," Angels general manager Bill Bavasi said. "Thereason we're not talking about this is because we have a pennant totry and win. The more we talk about this, the more distraction thereis to our ballclub.""I'm trying not to get caught up in it," Collins said. "I'mjust trying to make sure we're still ready to play. That's my job.It makes my hair grayer, I'll tell you that."Phillips, 38, was arrested early Sunday by Anaheim police, whosaid he purchased $30 worth of cocaine. The charge carries amaximum sentence of three years, but first offenders completing adrug counseling program and periodic testing for up to a year canhave the case dismissed. But Phillips would first have to pleadguilty on a "deferred entry of judgment."Phillips posted $10,000 bail after his arrest, and a Sept. 18court appearance was scheduled.Phillips' attorney, Allan Stokke, said Tuesday in Californiathat the allegations are out of character for his client."The thing we wanted people to know is that there are no priorarrests or convictions, or anything of this sort," Stokke said. "Wedo not have all reports yet, but we expect to examine all possibledefenses."Stokke declined to talk about the facts of the case, but said hehad encouraged his client to get back to his work as quickly as hecould.The Angels entered Tuesday's game tied for first place with theSeattle Mariners in the American League Central, and Collins'primary concern was distractions created by Phillips' arrest."We have to realize that something happened that's obviouslygoing to get a lot of publicity, but the only thing that matters isthe performance on the field," Collins said."Tony will deal with what he's faced with personally, but wehave to understand what our focus needs to be. That's being tiedwith the Seattle Mariners. We have to stay in that fight."Minutes before the game began, Phillips signed autographs forfans, mostly kids."Five bucks says he wouldn't be out here signing if it (thearrest) hadn't happened," said Tom Myers of Batavia, who helped hisyoung sons, Johnny and Jordan, get autographs. "They wanted anautograph, and he's one of the only players signing, so I said whatthe heck."Ozzie Guillen was one of several Sox who visited with theirformer teammate, who was traded to the Angels in May, before thegame."I don't feel sorry for him; I don't feel bad for him," Guillensaid. "Hopefully, he'll get his act together. He's a human being,and humans make mistakes. He should be punished. But to me, TonyPhillips is a great guy."Contributing: Associated Press
No comments:
Post a Comment