It’s hard to believe that opening day is this close. In just five short days, the Phillies will set forth on a six month marathon. Domonic Brown has definitely been the biggest surprise so far. He definitely has taken the starting right field job by storm. Ryan Howard seems to be back and healthy for the first time since 2010. The bullpen appears to be something that potentially could be a strength in 2013. To me, the biggest concern for me is Roy Halladay.

Is Halladay injured? Is he trying to reinvent himself? Or has time just caught up with the Doc? Between the short outings and the ineffectiveness, Halladay has had a horrendous spring. My hope is that when the bell rings in Atlanta, Doc will be game on. That hopefully Halladay can give us 80% of what we’ve been accustomed to over the years. 80% of Halladay is still better than the majority of pitchers at 100%.

With all the days off to start the season, maybe the best course of action is to start the season with Halladay on the disabled list. Keeping Halladay in extended spring training until the weather warms up maybe the best thing. The only concern may be that the MLBPA gets involved with Halladay having an outside shot at reaching his innings requirement to have his option for 2014 vest.

Tags: Michael Haftman, MLB Countdown, MLB Opening Day, Opening Day Baseball, Phillies Countdown, Phillies Opening day, Philly media, Philly Sports News