On April 5^th, 2009, the Phillies did something for the first time in over two decades: raise a championship banner over the city of Philadelphia.

In the wake of The Unhittable Slider, Philadelphia felt a sense of euphoria not felt in a generation. The parade, the streets bathed in confetti, beer and smiles. Chase Utley coining the now ubiquitous World-Effing Champions phrase. The World Series DVDs, t-shirts, hats, and all the merchandise that is so commonplace when your favorite team wins The Big One. No matter where you looked in South Philly, it was a sea of red for months on end. Even as the Eagles were on their way to the playoffs, that seemed almost trivial, as the Phillies were now the talk of Broad Street and beyond.

The high lasted long after Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske, clear through the off season, past the loss of Pat Burrell, and straight into 2009. And finally, Phillies’ fans could relax.

And for their efforts, they were honored at Citizen’s Bank Park by their fans, as they christened the 2009 season at home against the Atlanta Braves. It was a night full of pomp and circumstance, as the national ESPN audience was treated to the first baseball action of the season by our very own home town nine.

Although the Phillies would go on to lose the game, it would ultimately prove to be moot, as the Fightins would go onto wrap up the division and the National League by the middle of October.

But the loss on that night is not what I’ll remember. Sure, they put up a pretty lousy showing against an inferior team, but that’s not the memory that I keep with me. It wasn’t the four run deficit after two innings, or the stymied bats, or even the late inning rally started by the unlikeliest of people in Eric Bruntlett.

What I’ll keep with me, and I’m sure most of you would agree, isn’t the first line in the loss column, or the perpetuation of April struggles, but the team marching onto the field, cutting through a morass of red jerseys and rabid fans, and a red banner flying high above center that tells the rest of the baseball loving world that here are the Philadelphia Phillies. World Champions.

And so it begins.

The Phillies began their National League defense today, christening the 2010 season with a stunning victory over the defending champion New York Yankees. Despite allowing the Yankees to plate two in the top of the ninth to take a one run lead, the Phils rallied for two in their last at-bats to earn their first win of the non-season.

As expected, Roy Halladay was impressive in his first start of the spring, tossing two hitless innings while striking out three. Kyle Kendrick, Doc’s protege, put up two scoreless frames as well, allowing one hit and striking out one.

So what does this all mean?

Nothing. It means nothing at all. It’s the first week in March, so consider everything that happens between now and April 4^th to be completely and utterly meaningless. Because it is. It’s Spring Training, and the Phillies play in something called the “Grapefruit League.” There are 10AM games. I haven’t played a 10AM game since I was nine. There are off-days to play golf. Players jog on the warning track in between at-bats after they’ve been replaced by someone with “84” on their back.

Make no mistake about it, you are all bearing witness to some awfully inconsequential baseball. And really, unless your name is Kyle or Jamie, then you can go ahead and hit the snooze alarm and coast for the next month. However, there are some (You know them better as WIP callers) who disagree. For them, spring training has as much weight and meaning as a mid-September game between against the Mets.

It goes without saying, and I feel like a dolt for even writing such things, but it’s not the same. It’s not even close. If Roy would’ve have struck out all six batters he faced, you’d say “Sure, he’s Roy.” Had he got knocked around, you’d say “It’s early. He’s just getting his reps in.” And although you’d be admonished for ending a sentence with a preposition, you’d be right. Or wrong. Or neither, because quite frankly, no one is ever right when it comes to this time of the season, because there is nothing to be right about, because it has no meaning.

This stems from the comments heard and read regarding Phillipe Aumont’s brief appearance on Wednesday night against the FSU squad. He didn’t look impressive. He didn’t look like he was just missing his spots, either. He just looked bad. He looked like he had the nerves of a Ben Stiller character.

But what do you expect? It’s spring training, the kid had the butterflies, and it got the best of him. And whatever you do, don’t you dare blame his struggles on his constantly adjusting arm slot that is completely common among pitchers on the third of March.

So please, for the love of the game, take this grain of salt. It’s a long season.

/Author’s note: I realize how unnecessary and pointless the above article was. Only like 5% of the population cares about spring training games. Unfortunately, that 5% has discovered the internet. And they are motivated, and unstoppable, like a grizzly bear who discovered kevlar. It’s a massive headache and an act of sheer futility just having to avoid these people. So please, bear with this utterly inane excuse for a column. After all, it’s spring training for me, too. I promise they’ll get better.

As the new season approaches, you might be seeing some changes around these parts, chief among them is the brand spankin’ new Fightins Dot Com Mailbag, where yours truly and the rest of the crew will be answering queries related to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Have a question about Roy’s beard, Howard’s love life, or Charlie’s new wardrobe? Hell, do you have a question that’s related to baseball, like, about the rotation or lineup? Whatever those things are.

If so, then fire your question and your name to FightinsMailbag[at] gmail [dot] com, and look for the mailbag column shortly thereafter. If you’re lucky, you might get to be our featured “question of the week,” which will be the one question with the fewest spelling errors.

So once again, readers, send your questions to FightinsMailbag [at] gmail [dot] com.

As of 9:22 yesterday morning, baseball season has arrived.

Thanks to the intrepid reporting of Milwaukee’s own Todd Zolecki, we have the first bit of evidence that baseball has arrived in Philadelphia, vis a vis Clearwater, Florida. It is the first such activity in Phillies baseball since Shane Victorino grounded out in early November, and brother, not a moment too soon.

Of course, it’s technically been baseball season in Philadelphia since December 16^th, when Ruben Amaro pulled the trigger on two trades that are likely to define his place in Phillies history, when he sent Cliff Lee to Seattle in exchange for prospects, while bringing in Roy Halladay, whereupon he inked a tidy, team-friendly extension to keep him in Phillies pinstripes for the foreseeable future.

Since that day, it’s been three months of Christmas Eves. Nothing but anticipation and wonderment for what’s waiting on the other side of tomorrow.

Well, we can wait no more, folks, because tomorrow has arrived, and it is officially the start of spring training, as pitchers, catchers, and a handful of motivated position players arrive to start the magical ride known as baseball season.

From here, it’s a few short weeks until split squads and starts by guys we’ve never heard of, and before you know it, Doc will be taking the mound in Nationals Park on April 5^th.

So allow me to kick start your 2010 season with a list that I like to call…THE SIX MOST IMPORTANT MEMBERS OF THE PHILLIES IN 2010.

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If there is one thing that the last two seasons of Phillies baseball proved, it’s this: Dominance can be fleeting. For proof, look no further than Cole Hamels. He was one of the biggest reasons the Phillies won it all in 2008, and ironically, one of the biggest reasons they didn’t win it all in 2009.

He went into last season fresh off a career year, his second full season in the majors, that saw him best opposing teams to the tune of a 3.09 ERA over 227.1 innings. Then October rolled around, and things really got going for the lefty. In five games, he went 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA en route to winning both the NLCS and World Series MVP awards, while leading the Phillies to their first title since 1980, thus completing his journey from coveted prospect to staff Ace.

We all know what happened next: The limelight, television appearances, cover stories, a new wife, a new condo, a poor off-season training program, an injury to start 2009, 12 earned runs in his first nine innings, a few good starts, a great start, some bad starts, a few more good starts, bad start, great start, bad start, bad start, playoffs and more bad starts, the questionable walk to Mark Teixiera, the even more questionable two-run tater to Alex Rodriguez, the curveball to Andy Pettitte, game over, Cole wanting it all to end. And it did.

And as spring training approaches, the question remains: Where does that leave Cole?

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On the same day that the Ruben Amaro took another step toward cementing his legacy, along with the Phillies’ immediate future, it seemed like the topic of the day was Cliff Lee, the erstwhile lefty who is long gone, but far from forgotten, in the City of Brotherly Love.

Most of the chatter takes Amaro to task for not keeping Cliff Lee on the payroll for 2010, especially in light of Joe Blanton’s recent contract extension. The prevailing logic is that if Blanton can get eight per for the next three, then why couldn’t that money go to Lee’s sure-to-be-monster contract?

More after the jump…

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Ah, January. The bane of the baseball fan’s existence. It’s too far removed from last season, and too long to go until the next. It’s the middle of the road between a place you want to be and the place you want to go. Too far to turn back, not close enough to keep going.

It is at this time of year that us writers have to stretch out our journalistic muscles and pull some words out of our collective wazoos. Unfortunately, it’s been a slow off-season, as Ruben Amaro did most of the heavy lifting before Christmas. So, all that’s left to write about…is that there is nothing left to write about. It’s so meta!

But seriously, it’s a slow time for sports fans. If you’re lucky enough, then you have 11 other guys you can root for until February. But even then, you only get three hours a week. And basketball? Quite frankly, who cares about basketball? Unless some guy named LeBron is on your team, you might as well get your fill on reruns of “Law and Order: SVU” until the three months of playoffs start. And hockey? No offense, but how good can a sport be if it’s carried on a network whose chief programming is hunting shows hosted by guys named Chet Westerfield and Burt “Skaggs” Brookeston? Exactly.

So here we are, fans. The middle of January. It’s cold, the hot stove has simmered to a slow boil, and the biggest news as of late has been the will-he-won’t-he nuptials of Derek Jeter. And unless you count arbitration hearings as “exciting,” then hunker down and just be glad that you aren’t fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates, whose biggest move this off season was signing Ryan Church. Also, there is the whole “having to live in Pittsburgh” thing to deal with. Talk about rough.

And as fate would have it, we aren’t Pirates fans. We’re Phillies fans, and lately, we’ve been able to deal with these mid-winter doldrums by being able to look forward to the next season without having a sense of dread that is known only by Henry VIII’s wives and Queens residents. As such, there isn’t a ton of suspense to be had in the off season, unlike years past, when we had to worry about suspect free agent signings (Adam Eaton), bad trades (Freddy Garcia) and Ed Wades (Ed Wade).

No, Amaro has wrapped everything up in a nice, neat package. The Phillies have Roy Halladay (admittedly, that is still strange to say), a lineup that boasts the best offense in the league, and a bullpen which…can’t get worse? Okay, so maybe there are a few things that are cause for concern.

But overall, we fans are in good shape. It’s like that last week of school after you’ve passed your finals, when it’s just a matter of time before the fun starts. Until then, we still have to kill some time. And without further adieu,here are some things that you can do until that glorious spring day when Roy Halladay dons a Phillies cap for the first time…

1. Planning a summer trip? Then head on over to Walk Off Walk and get in on this year’s Heist.

2. Get in on with The Adam Carolla Podcast.

3.Can someone please make one of those videos of Hitler reacting to “Avatar” winning Best Picture at the Golden Globes?

4. Hook yourself up with a sweet-ass Roy Halladay jersey.

5. Make fun of Benjie Molina and his hilarious on-base percentage.

6. Follow The Fightins Dot Com crew on Twitter. @meechone, @mistertug, @long_drive, @fuckthemets, @DashTreyhorn

7. On a more serious note, you can donate to the Red Cross to help with the relief effort in Haiti. Literally, anything will do. John Travolta is flying doctors in, George Clooney gave some cash, and hell, even Eric Hinske donated a few swinging strikeouts. Not sure how that one helps, but hey, it’s something.

If it’s the first week of January, then that can mean only two things: It’s colder than balls, and the Hall of Fame discussion-slash-debate-slash-screaming-match-slash-donnybrook is in full swing, with a veritable schism forming between sports writers and bloggers, debating the weight of traditional (wins, batting average), Sabermetrics (OPS, ERA+) and intangibles (Fear factor, Ecksteineism).*

*Note: these are also referred to as “not real.”

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As we near the end of the decade, many sites just like this one are counting down their favorite moments from the past ten years. Whether it’s the best players, the best games, the biggest hits, or the best Chris Wheelerseses, one thing can be certain: Countdown lists and decade retrospectives are all the rage.

And this is one of them.

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As of Wednesday, after the the die had been cast and the dust settled, Phillies’ fans could finally utter the three words that they’ve longed to say for what seemed like ages: We’ve got Roy.

Roy Halladay, arguably the best pitcher of the last five or so years, will be a Phillie for the foreseeable future. It’s surreal, isn’t it? For so long, the Phillies have been considered also-rans, even after sitting atop the National League east for three consecutive seasons, with two National League Pennants and a Commissioner’s trophy to show for it, they’ve always been considered as a second-class baseball team.

So it stands to reason that the entire fan base is still in shock just a few days after they not only landed the biggest fish in the pond, but also managed to sign him to one of the most team-friendly contracts for a player of his caliber in who knows how long.

But something still doesn’t seen right in Philadelphia, a city where the glass is perpetually (at least from the outside) half-empty.

Was it a let down? Are we not able to process the information? I keep telling myself that Roy Halladay is on the team, but why can’t I believe it?

Then I figured it out.

It wasn’t that I was in some sort of baseball induced state of shock that didn’t allow my brain to digest the thought of Roy Halladay in red prinstripes at Citizen’s Bank Park, but rather that I couldn’t come to grips with the departure of Cliff Lee, who in his short time in Philadelphia, could very easily be considered one of the top 50 Phillies ever to don the uniform.

Don’t get me wrong: I love Roy Halladay. I have no doubt that he will make us forget about Cliff Lee by the third inning of his first start, but there was just something about Cliff that made him so likable, so easy to root for, so…accessible.

From his first start where he shut down the San Francisco Giants, to the postseason where he made opposing teams look downright foolish, Cliff was beloved. It’s strange, that a player can have such an impact on a team and the city in such a short amount of time, for no other reason that he did his job. He didn’t win a Cy Young in Philly, he didn’t set any records; he just went to work every fifth day. And boy, was it fun to watch. Despite the rough starts that he endured in the waning weeks of the regular season, Cliff gave one of the balls-out best performances by a Phillies pitcher in recent memory, and he will be remembered as such, grouped together with the likes of Carlton in ‘72, Schilling in ‘97, and Hamels in ‘08.

Cliff Lee in ‘09.

And that’s what we all have to remember him by: 17 starts, some of which fall into the category of “bad,” some in “good,” some in “great,” and some in “You just have to see it.”

As much as no one, especially Lee, wanted it, Clifton Phifer Lee is now a Mariner. A victim of circumstance, baseball economics, and a budget with no wiggle room. Pitching 3,000 miles away, in a city that, for all intents and purposes, is a very lovely place, but it just isn’t Philadelphia. It isn’t us. They aren’t Philly fans.

So take care of him, Seattle. Enjoy his sprints off the mound, his semi-conscious defensive plays, his aw-shucks demeanor, his spiked curveball, and the way that he makes pitching look so effortless, so easy, that you’d swear you can do it.

And Cliff, you can be sure that you have at least one standing ovation waiting for you when you come back to Philadelphia. You never wanted to leave. And we didn’t want you to leave. You may not have won a World Series ring during your short stay, but you accomplished something that is much, much harder: you won over the people of Philadelphia.

God speed, Clifton.

• Muscles on Top 15 Moments of 2009, Number 14: Rauuuul!
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• Jdashdog on Top 15 Moments of 2009, Number 14: Rauuuul!
• meech.one on Top 15 Moments of 2009, Number 14: Rauuuul!
• GTO on Top 15 Moments of 2009, Number 14: Rauuuul!