Ah, Spring Training baseball has concluded, and now the real season begins.
Today commences the official start of baseball in Philadelphia for the season. For the Phillies, what does that mean? Well, here’s the roundup heading into the season:
–Seven position players over the age of 30
-A team payroll of over $180-million (ranked third best in baseball behind the Dodgers and Yankees)
–Cole Hamels out (most likely) until sometime in May with shoulder fatigue
-Ryne Sandberg in his first full year of coaching (the team not only removed the interim tag, but honored him with a three-year deal to boot)
-Starting the season in inter-league play at Texas (at Globe Life Park)
-Lee returns to Texas
Today in the opener, squaring off against 27-year old Tanner Scheppers (who’ll start in place of Yu Darvish, due to a neck injury), Cliff Lee will take the mound against his former team, the Texas Rangers. Lee was a member of a successful Rangers’ team that went on to represent the AL in the 2010 World Series against San Francisco, after Rangers’ GM Jon Daniels acquired the lefty from Seattle months prior in July. Cliff also debuted in 2009 against Texas, back then as a member of Cleveland. He got rocked around in that start, being accounted for seven earned runs in a 9-1 loss.
Tags: 2014, Chase Utley, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon, major league baseball, MLB, phi, phightin phils, Philadelphia Phillies, Predictions, Ryan Howard, Ryne Sandberg, season thread, TalkSportsPhilly.com
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