Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are expected to be the class of the National League in 2011. 

With Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt, the Phillies have perhaps the most fearsome pitching rotation, on paper, in the modern baseball era.

Philadelphia has been installed as 13-to-4 favorites to win the World Series. The Phillies are overwhelming 1-to-4 favorites to take the National League pennant. 

The over/under on their win total has been placed at 96, which is also the best mark for any team in the league in the preseason. 

In the most anticipated spring training in Phillies' history, the Phightins opened up Grapefruit League play Saturday and Sunday against the Yankees.

Let's take a look at what we've learned so far...

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With both the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues underway, Spring Training has officially begun. As pitchers fine-tune their command and overall "stuff" and hitters try to refine their swing, the rest of us can only look on in awe, now waiting for the games that actually count in eager anticipation. However, there are a select few who are looking forward.

Every team enters every season with questions. 

The bottom line question for the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies is this: Can they live up to this unprecedented hype and bring home the franchise's third World Series?

I'm not going to go quite that far, but I'd like to give some evidence that, to me, suggests that there is absolutely no way that this Phillies team does not walk away with their fifth consecutive NL East Crown.

Second baseman Chase Utley is a perennial All-Star and the best all-around player on the Phillies roster.  But recently, rumors have been flying about his physical condition.  Mentions of "soreness" in his knees and legs are raising eyebrows.  Utley missed both the exhibition game and the first official game this week after "intense workouts" during the first week of camp.  He may not play in the next game either.

Charlie Manuel is undoubtedly one of the Phillies' best franchise managers. He's brought the team one of two franchise World Series championships, and he's won the NL East division each of the last four seasons, making it to at least the NLCS in three of them. He's compiled a 544-428 record since becoming the skipper in Philly, which amounts to a .560 winning percentage. That is the third best all-time winning record for any Phillies manager.

Major League Baseball is in the air. All 30 teams have flocked to a warm weather site with the same goal in mind: Win a ring.

Whether it's veterans of the league imparting as much knowledge as they can on the young guns, or legends from the past returning to the place that they loved, spring training is a beneficial and necessary time for baseball players.

Late February. Optimism fills the air in Major League Baseball.

The reason?

Baseball is back.

Granted, it is only a lowly beginning. Late February is the time for spring training games in Arizona and Florida. The exhibition games, though it is good to see that baseball has returned, are just that: exhibition games.

When the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees square off in the Grapefruit League opener tomorrow afternoon, and again on Sunday afternoon, we'll see a bunch of familiar, big league names.

Cole Hamels, who has been ticketed as one of the Phillies' "four aces," will get the start on Saturday, while Joe Blanton will lead the charge on Sunday. Also scheduled to appear this weekend are a couple of bullpen staples in JC Romero, Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge.

Former Philadelphia Phillie Jayson Werth signed with his former division rival Washington Nationals for $126 MM over seven years, which allowed Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. to offer a contract to the much-coveted Cliff Lee.

In a deal that shocked baseball where Lee left millions of dollars on the table, he decided to return to a team where he enjoyed the city, the team and the fans.

Lee decided that his comfort and the chance for history and a championship was more important than the money the Yankees offered him.