It could be as late as the beginning of June before we see Jimmy Rollins back in the starting lineup.

J-Roll talked to reporters before Sunday’s win over the Mets, saying he’s never before suffered an injury quite like this one.

“I’ve pulled a muscle, I’ve strained my groin a little, but not something like this where you feel like somebody shot you. That’s different,” Rollins said.

“I’ve never been in that situation. They said two to four weeks and they weren’t talking about being healthy; they were talking about determining what the next step would be. It’s probably pretty accurate, unfortunately.”

Rollins has played in only nine games. He got off to arguably the best start of his career, hitting .391 and taking a new approach at the plate, one that resulted in more walks.

Without Rollins, the lineup has lacked sizzle (even with Saturday and Sunday’s hitting fest against the Mets). The fact is, for the Phillies to be what they want to be, Jimmy’s got to be at the top of the order doing his thing.

With that said, Juan Castro has proved to be a major upgrade over Eric Bruntlett, both defensively and with the bat.

It’s one big “no duh” that the Phillies haven’t quite looked like the Phillies all season.

Well, ever since Jimmy Rollins went down, the team has resembled some kind of warped edition of the 2009 Mets.

J-Roll might not be back until mid-May (ugh), but Joe Blanton and is on his way.

What about Brad Lidge? He’s probably the most important pitcher on the staff. We can overrated Cole Hamels all we want… the guy is what he is - a No. 2 starter at best, but never an ace.

Lidge, though, is a bigger question mark.

He returns to the bullpen Friday. Now that he’s back, Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero can go back to playing set up men; Chad Durbin and Danys Baez the middle relief.

Everything, at long last, is beginning to take shape.

We don’t need a 2008 Brad Lidge. Please, not a 2009 version, either ….

Somewhere in between, perhaps. If Lidge can shows flashes of 2008, the Phils are in good shape.

But ‘09 is still fresh in everybody’s mind.

And he still scares the living &^%$ out of me each time he takes the hill….

Phillies 14, Nationals 7

Wednesday, April 13th

The Flyin' Hawaiian had himself a ballgame.

I was at this game — a chilly night in South Philly — and it’s safe to say I got my $48 worth.

Kyle Kendrick might need that much money on his inevitable bus ride to Lehigh Valley. He was awful.

Luckily for Kendrick, so was Greg Stammen.

Kendrick allowed three runs in the first inning — all with two outs. The Phillies promptly responded with four runs in the bottom half, highlighted by a two-run single by Ryan Howard.

Kendrick showed no appreciation for his offense and failed to get out of the second inning. The Nats scored three to take a 6-4 lead. The Phils stormed back when Chase Utley hit a three-run bomb to make it 7-6.

The Nationals tied the score off Nelson Figueroa in the third inning. The score was 7-7 after three.

Whew.

The Phils’ bullpen, though, kept the lowly Nats, who despite their god-awful pitching are a pretty solid offensive squad, in check. Kudos to Figueroa, who really did a heck of a job in relief of Kendrick. Figgy (is that what those New Yawkers called him?) pitched 3 1/3 strong innings and helped his cause with two hits, including a double.

Shane Victorino hit a two-run homer in the fifth to put the Phils ahead to stay. Victorino, who entered with a .183 batting average, was 4-for-5 with a career-best five RBIs batting leadoff for the first time. It’s obvious that Victorino is not comfortable batting out of the No. 7 hole, and he’ll need to be the offensive spark at the top of the order until Rollins returns.

Utley hit a solo dinger in the sixth to make it 10-7, his18th career multi-homer game.

Placido Polanco had two hits, but sadly his BA dipped to .486.

I’m really impressed by Howard. He looks like a completely different hitter. He doesn’t swing at sliders outside in the dirt or chase high heaters. The Big Fella is really developing into a complete hitter.

Kendrick is a mess. It’sobvious he cannot handle the pressure of starting in the big leagues. My early guess is they’ll skip his next start or replace him with Figueroa until Joe Blanton gets back.

Unfortunately for K-K, he seems destined for a long relief role at best, but perhaps more likely, a baseball career spent primarily in the minors.

Jimmy Rollins was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a Grade 1/Grade 2 strain of the right calf.

Rollins will miss 2-4 weeks.

“We believe it to be a mild to moderate strain and we’re hopeful it will be a two-to-four week recovery,”

Jimmy Rollins could be sidelined for more than a month.

general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said in an official statement. “As in all of our injuries, precautions will be taken so that Jimmy is 100% when he returns to the field.”

Rollins is “hurt pretty bad,” said Charlie Manuel in an MLB Radio interview Wednesday. The 2-4 week time frame might be generous, as this is an injury that could linger for months.

There was fear that Rollins tore his calf muscle, which would have resulted in a potential season-long stay on the DL.

Juan Castro will take over the starting shortstop role. Wilson Valdez was called from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to to take Rollins’ spot on the roster.

Rollins joins Joe Blanton, J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge on the DL.

—

The loss of Rollins hurts, but the Phillies should keep moving. I’d assume the struggling Shane Victorino (who seems absolutely lost) will take over in the leadoff spot, followed by Placido Polanco, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Castro and Carlos Ruiz (or perhaps Manuel will flip Ruiz and Castro)…

Rollins was off to arguably the best start of his career, batting .391 with eight runs scored. The good thing is , the Phillies are so damn good, they can afford to let Rollins heal for the next month and, hopefully, no longer than that…

According to multiple reports, Brad Lidge threw a scoreless inning today in Clearwater. That’s an encouraging sign considering.

Not so encouraging is the lack of news on Jimmy Rollins. It seems more and more likely he’ll spend time on the disabled list after straining his calf during pre-game warm ups Monday.

Phillies 7, Nationals 4

Monday, April 12th

Stud.

Cole Hamels allowed four earned runs over 5 2/3 laboring innings, but his offense picked him up (what else is new), rallying from a four-run deficit to down the Nats on opening day at The Bank.

The Phils scored five runs in the fifth inning off Jason Marquis, who for the second time in a week, couldn’t get through five against the Phils’ vaunted lineup.

Placido Polanco hit the go-ahead two-run single and Chase Utley smacked a homer that hit off the foul pole in right field to extend the lead to three.

The win came at a cost as both Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth were removed due to injury. Rollins suffered a right calf strain during pre-game warm ups and did not start. He is day-to-day and an MRI is scheduled on Tuesday.

Jayson Werth was removed after the fifth inning with hip soreness. Werth said afterward that the injury isn’t a big deal.

The Phils (6-1) are off to their best start since 1993.

Jimmy Rollins was a late scratch from the lineup Monday after suffering a strain to his right calf.

Rollins injured himself during pre-game warm ups.

In seven games, Rollins is batting .391 with a .516 on-base percentage.

Phillies 2, Astros 1

Sunday, April 11th

All killer, no filler

Roy Halladay carved up the Astros, earning career win No. 150 and complete game No. 50 on getaway day in Houston.

Halladay scattered seven hits, struck out eight, walked none and allowed one unearned run. He was masterful.

On a day when the bats weren’t clicking — Roy Oswalt pitched very well in defeat — Halladay did what all good aces are paid to do.  Halladay got into trouble in the sixth inning, loading the bases with no outs, but forced Cory Sullivan to ground into a rally-killing double play before getting Carlos Lee to pop up to Jimmy Rollins.

Rollins hit his 34th career leadoff homer and Carlos Ruiz knocked in Raul Ibanez with a fielder’s choice in the second inning to make it 2-0.

The Phils produced only six hits, the first time this season they failed to reach 10 or more knocks.

In two games, Halladay is 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA. Stunning.

The Phils’ 5-1 record is their best start since 1993 (8-1).

Phillies 9, Astros 6

Saturday, April 10th

The Phils are smokin’ right now.

Even Jamie Moyer blowing a 4-0 lead couldn’t hold back the offense, which for the fifth time in as many games this season, churned out 10-plus hits. The last time the Phillies did that to start a season was 1926.

Ryan Howard’s mammoth two-run bomb to left field put the Phils, 6-5, a few innings after the Astros scored five runs with two outs off Jamie Moyer in the bottom of the fourth.

Shane Victorino’s hit a two-run homer for insurance in the ninth.

Look at what this lineup’s first five batters are doing (yes, I know it’s early). It’s off the charts: Jimmy Rollins (.386), Placido Polanco (.542), Chase Utley (.368), Ryan Howard (.417) and Jayson Werth (.400) .

Howard has three homers and 10 RBIs in five games. Polanco isn’t the vacuum bag at third base like Pedro Feliz was, but he’s be a godsend with the bat.

Today, Roy Halladay takes the hill as the Phillies try to sweep Houston before their home opener Monday versus the Nationals.

On The Dan Patrick Show Wednesday, Jimmy Rollins voiced his displeasure about the Cliff Lee trade to Seattle.

“When the trade happened, I actually got a text from Jayson Werth and he was like, ‘What are we doing?’ And I was like, ‘Didn’t we get Halladay?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, but we traded Lee.’ And my mouth dropped like, ‘That wasn’t part of the deal.’ I really don’t know. I thought we had enough to keep him. I thought we could have done enough to keep him. I guess that’s just a move the Yankees do. … That’s just the truth. The Yankees would have been like, ‘Hey, we got a chance to keep both of them. We’ll pay them both for a year or two and we got a chance to win a championship.’”