The 24 Days of Spring Training!

My Fellow Phans,

I bring to you great tidings of Phillies joy. As we sit here on the 20^th of this cold January, it is just 24 days until pitchers and catchers officially report for the Phillies down in sunny, Clearwater.

I don’t know about you, but I have been counting down the days to this season since that infamous strike 3  that Ryan Howard took way back in October which turned out to be the final pitch in the Phillies season.

It is a season of hopes and even higher expectations with the welcoming re-addition of lefty ace Cliff Lee and minor league superstar Domonic Brown along with the regular returning cast of characters. Throw out the greedily-departed Jayson Werth, add Lee and Brown and this Phillies team seems poised to make another run during the 2011 season. I refrain from making predictions although, this may be the more anticipated year from my perspective that I have ever known so we will see what happens along the way.

There is one more new addition that the Phillies are currently adding this offseason. When fans enter Citizens Bank Park this year, they will be greeted by a brand new scoreboard. Once the 10 million dollar upgrade is completed, it will be the biggest HD display in the entire National League. It will measure 76 feet high, 97 feet wide and totaling 7,372 square feet. This new screen will be just about triple the size of the old scoreboard. The old scoreboard will still be around though, as it is being located to the Phillies’ Spring Training facility, Bright House Field, down in Clearwater.

On a more humorous side, Lance Berkman, whom signed with the St. Louis this offseason, claims that Cardinals is the best team in the National League. "If there's a better team in the National League, I don't know who they are.”

I will leave it at that for now. I do not doubt that the Cardinals are a quality team; I guess we will just have to wait and see how the season plays out. The Phillies visit Lance and the Cardinals for the first time in mid-May, with the Cardinals not visiting Philadelphia in September.

Oh and before I forget, since we are doing countdowns now. I added a countdown to pitchers and catchers reporting on the right side of this blog so enjoy!

Oh and its just 71 days until Opening Day 2011. 


Until we meet again Phillies Fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies!