"The very first time Phillies GM Ruben Amaro saw Roy Halladay was across the Blue Jays clubhouse at Dunedin in the spring of 1996.

Amaro, 31, was trying to make the Jays as a back-up outfielder.

"He was younger, a big strong kid," Amaro said from Philadelphia. "I don't remember him being dominant."

Amaro ticks off the Jays starters: Charlie O'Brien behind the plate, an infield of John Olerud, Tomas Perez, Ed Sprague and Alex Gonzalez and an outfield of Joe Carter, Otis Nixon and Shawn Green, while Carlos Delgado was the DH.

"They really didn't have a back-up outfielder," Amaro recalled. "They chose Juan Samuel. Cito Gaston sent me to Syracuse and I was terrible in the snow."

Samuel had been a second baseman nine of his first 13 years in the majors.

An unhappy veteran at triple-A he asked Syracuse manager Richie Hebner for his release after 16 games.

"I was phoning triple-A clubs for work, Lee Thomas and Ed Wade (with the Phillies) said they had something, somebody got hurt," said Amaro, who said he'd made the two-hour, drive to minor-league Scranton. Thomas said "no, we want you in the big leagues.""