Five Young Guns

They are here because they are immensely talented.

But it's their youth and potential that make people wonder just how much they can accomplish together.

It's the swagger of the shortstop, the cocksureness of the two pitchers, the killer intensity of the second baseman and the big smile, laugh and power of the first baseman that make fans believe that something truly special can happen here.

Jimmy Rollins. Cole Hamels. Brett Myers. Chase Utley. Ryan Howard.

This homegrown and hungry pool of talent at the core of the Phillies oozes personality and appeal. More important, the youthful Phillies insist they are poised to make a lot of noise in the National League East, starting today when they open the 2007 season against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park.

Just ask Rollins, the team pulse and fearless prognosticator.

The shortstop made the proclamation heard 'round baseball back on that chilly January afternoon while seated at a table inside the Diamond Club at Citizens Bank Park.

"We're the team to beat."

Rollins hasn't backed down.

"A challenge was issued," he reiterated earlier this spring. "I announced we had a good team, and people took heed to it. If I said I was the greatest home-run hitter, people would just laugh at me and say I was crazy. But people listened because there's something to it.

"They took notice."

They definitely noticed.

The Mets. The Braves.

Teammates.

Fans.

"We thought it," Myers said. "He just said it."

Phillies fans watched the front office blow up its team last July and announce it might not be able to win until 2008 at the earliest. But then the Phillies took their core of Rollins, Myers, Howard, Utley and Hamels - Rollins and Utley are the oldest at 28, with Hamels the pup at 23 - and surged into contention in the National League wild-card race. They were 49-55 at last season's trade deadline, but blew through the last two months of the season at a 36-22 clip, the second-best record in that period in the league.

They held the wild-card lead with seven games to play, but finished 3-4 for another near miss in a recent history of near misses to extend the franchise's postseason drought to 13 years.

But that core is back, and the Phillies added a few pieces they think could put them over the top.