Six Weeks and Counting....

The ground in Philadelphia may be covered in snow, but down south in Clearwater things are just heating up.
Your 2007 Philadelphia Phillies have begun their preseason schedule down in the Grapefruit League, not without a little controversy to warm things up. Jimmy Rollins' now famous comments that the Phightins' are the team to beat in the NL East sparked a small media circus, primarily in New York, where the defending division champion Mets laughed off his comments.
NL MVP Ryan Howard and $85 million dollar man Chase Utley along with Rollins give the Phillies their strongest lineup in years. Wes Helms takes over at third base for Abraham Nunez, a definite upgrade. Also brought into the mix was catcher Rod Bajaras, which figures to make for an interesting battle behind the plate between last year's surprise 33 year old rookie Chris Coste and the equally pleasing David Ruiz. Jason Werth was brought into fill the 4th outfielder role, but he hasn't seen any action since 2005. Gone are late season acquistion and former Phillie-killer Jeff Conine along with David Delluci who formed a nice platoon late last season with the much-maligned and deservedly so joke of a star, Pat "The Bat" Burrell.
As for pitching, the Phils could possibly have the best rotation top to bottom in the Senior Circuit. Freddy Garcia, traded for from the White Sox, is the ace. Hard-throwing and hard-living Brett Myers, fresh off a contract extension, is back and hopes to improve upon his 12-7 record from last season. Phenom Cole Hamels looks to only to develop further and will continue to learn from journeyman St. Joe's graduate Jamie Moyer.
The battle for the fifth and final starting spot has been of much discussion this spring. GM Pat Gillick brought back Adam Eaton, who has struggled with injuries since ex-GM genius Ed Wade (doesn't this team have such a different feel now that he is gone?) traded him away for Andy Ashby (that really worked out well). Also in the mix is veteran Jon Lieber. The Phillies have brought all six starters into camp this year and Lieber figures to be the odd man out. He was the subject of much trade discussion this off season. Something's gotta give, and the bullpen looks to be in dire need of a fresh arm.
Gone from the bullpen are clubhouse favorite Rick White and nobody's favorite Arthur Rhoades. In their place are the six-fingered man Antonio Alfonseca and.......well, they really didn't get anyone else. The team figures to keep Ryan Madson, Geoff Geary, Alfonseca, closer Tom Gordon (let's see if he lasts the entire season), Matt Smith and possibly one or two others.
Worthy of note is the upgrade of baseball minds to give manager Charlie Manule some help. Former manager and player Davey Lopes is the new first base coach and former Red Sox manager Jimy Williams takes over as the bench coach.
The last playoff appearance for this team was the Macho Row crew of 1993. The rest of that decade was filled with lowered expectations under the veil of "rebuilding". Things began to look up once Larry Bowa took over, but the team fell just short every year. The past two summers' under Manuel have been as equally up and down. The key to this year's success is to start off fast. Last year's team dug themselves a hole, went on a nice win streak in taking 15 of 16 and then proceeded to be left for dead by the end of July. But something happened after the trade deadline and the departure of long term fixture in right field, Bobby Abreu. The team, feeling the effects of no expectations began to play together as a team for the first time since April. That will not be the case this spring. Jimmy Rollins has made sure of that and the always vocal Philly fans will be sure to let them hear it if this team sputters out of the gates.