First Full Day of Spring Training

(Clearwater, FL) - Baseball has been fresh on everyone's mind this offseason. The steroid scandal and the Yankees/RedSox fued has been above-the-fold news all winter. But for Phillies fans, all the news has been good. Early in the winter, Ed Wade shipped Brandon Duckworth, Taylor Bucholtz, and Ezequiel Astacio to Houston for closer Billy Wagner. In December the Phils moved Carlos Silva and Nick Punto to Minnesota for starter Eric Milton and signed veteran pitcher Tim Worrel.

The addition of Billy Wagner sures up one of the major weak spots from last year. Wagner is a lights-out closer posting a 1.78 ERA last year with the Astros converting 44 of 47 save opportunities. Last season Jose Mesa was 24 of 28, but hit a wall late in the season and finished out the year with a 6.52 ERA and hardly saw action the last month of the year.

Having Billy Wagner, who straps a rocket launcher to his arm and fires 99mph fastballs, will be worth 15 more wins this year. Not only will he convert save opportunities, but he'll work 75-80 games and won't put the same tax the rest of the pitching staff the way Mesa did last year.

Pat Burrell is coming off a .209 season. But he was still second on the team in homeruns (Thome, League leader - 47) and had more extra base hits than singles. And reports out of Clearwater say that Pat's working hard and swinging the bat better than he did in '03. And remember, Mike Schmidt had a sophmore slump, and he turned out ok.

Baseball analysts are saying that the strength of this year's Phillies plus the personnel losses in Atlanta could equate to the first non Braves NL East Champion in 13 years.

The Phillies open up Bright House Networks Field, their new Spring Training home and new home of the Clearwater Threshers, on March 4th versus the defending American League Champions New York Yankees.

Fans will get their first look at Citizens Bank Park on April 3 and 4 when the Phillies close out their exhibition schedule with two games against the Indians.