Baseball notes: Phillies may make bid for slugger Thome

The Philadelphia Phillies, for all their strengths, could use a left-handed power bat off the bench. And yes, that still holds true despite signing discarded Mariners DH Jack Cust to a minor league contract.

Some buzz is starting to be heard that the Phillies could make a play for none other than Jim Thome, who recently hit his 600th home run. They have until Aug. 31 to make a waiver deal that would make him eligible for the postseason roster.

Thome, who played for the Phillies from 2003 to 2005, has never won a World Series (though he lost two with Cleveland). It is believed Minnesota would be open to sending Thome to a contender to help him fulfill the last goal of a Hall of Fame career, and the Phillies are the most logical choice.

“I think it’s every player’s dream to win, and I don’t know, to be honest,” he told reporters when asked, 24 hours after his 600th homer, if he would consider joining a contender for the rest of the season. “That’s something, until that happens, is hard for me to comment on that out of respect, out of respect to this (tapping his Twins jersey).”

It’s something to watch closely over the next two weeks. Thome turns 41 on Saturday and has had two stints on the disabled list this year.

He has not decided if he will play next season.

Notes and quotes

When it comes to run support, Tim Lincecum is being treated like a Seattle Mariners pitcher. The San Francisco Giants have scored zero runs in 10 of his 26 starts.

On Thursday, Lincecum limited the Atlanta Braves to one run in seven innings, a Chipper Jones homer. But he took a 1-0 loss to fall to 11-10.

“Nothing else he could’ve done,” manager Bruce Bochy told reporters, “except hit a couple of home runs.”

Lincecum has a 1.17 earned-run average since the All-Star break and a 4-3 record to show for it. Overall, he has a 2.53 ERA.

• The Giants’ offense had been hoping to get a boost from the acquisition of Carlos Beltran from the New York Mets. But Beltran has played in just 11 games since the July 28 trade (which cost the Giants top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler) and is on the disabled list with a strained right hand.

• Here’s what Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski told the Detroit Free Press after sending right-handed pitcher Chance Ruffin to the Mariners to complete the trade that brought pitchers Doug Fister and David Pauley.

Ruffin was the Tigers’ No. 7-rated prospect by Baseball America. The Mariners also netted Detroit’s No. 4 prospect (third baseman Francisco Martinez) in the deal, as well as two players on Seattle’s major league roster, outfielder Casper Wells and pitcher Charlie Furbush.

“As we said at the time, we like Fister a great deal – not only to help us now, but for the future,” Dombrowski said. “We felt if we were going to trade a lot of talent, it made sense to do it for someone who could be in our rotation for years. Plus, Pauley could help us this year.

“Also, we felt Fister was one of the few starting pitchers that we could acquire and make a difference for us. We did not want to trade any of the players, but we also felt we had depth at those positions and kept some other quality prospects we have.”

Fister is 2-1 with a 4.57 ERA in three starts, while Pauley is 0-1, 4.76 in five relief appearances.