Cole Hamels

ATLANTA - Anybody who thinks Monday night was a reason to panic hasn't been paying attention. In fact, if you are somebody who thinks Opening Night has some utility as a tea leaf for the rest of the season - which, almost without exception, it does not - the positives may have outweighed the negatives. The second baseman with the creaky knees looked as strong as he did in his prime, knocking a 400-foot home run over the wall in dead center, taking an extra base on an RBI single, and stretching a double into a triple.

ATLANTA - It is a long season, as the Phillies vividly reminded us with a long night here Monday. It is impossible to reach reasonable conclusions after just one game, but that's what opening day is for. For more than a month, we've been told every rough outing results from a pitcher working on some troublesome pitch, that the offensive numbers are meaningless. All of those qualifiers disappear on opening day. The game counts. This game counted more than most. There will be no easing into this National League East race.

ATLANTA - It was more than two hours before game time, and the first player to emerge in the visitors dugout at Turner Field was Chase Utley. The Phillies' five-time all-star second baseman was not going to miss this opening day. Not after missing the last two. Not after starting his preparation for this season almost immediately after the end of last season. There was a look in Utley's eyes Monday as he leaned on the dugout railing and awaited the team's stretch exercises in preparation for his first opening day since 2010.

This moment should have occurred four years ago. Cole Hamels was atop the baseball world, reigning MVP of the World Series, cover boy for Sports Illustrated, which trumpeted "The Fabulous New Life of Cole Hamels. " "Maybe it's as easy as it looks," smaller type below the headline proclaimed. Maybe it's appropriate that Hamels was forced to wait for his first opening day start until now. Maybe it's best Hamels learned the lesson of the 2009 spring, when he failed to adequately prepare and succumbed to a sore elbow.

ATLANTA - The first pitch was less than three hours away Monday, and $435.5 million worth of Phillies lounged on three leather couches. The six players watched baseball because there was nothing left to do. They had waited an entire winter and seven weeks of spring training for this night. Cole Hamels, the most expensive of them all, had waited years for this moment. He prepared for his first opening-day start in a corner of the visiting clubhouse at Turner Field. But all that preparation was not enough to prevent mistakes against a Braves lineup that gashed him for three home runs in a 7-5 loss.

ATLANTA -  Cole Hamels probably should have worn a helmet last month when he faced the Dominican Republic's World Baseball Classic team in an exhibition game. But he was working on fastball command in spring training, and he went uninjured, so all was well. Last week, Hamels was matched up against arguably baseball's best hitting team in his spring finale. The results were much better, but afterward Hamels was thankful he wouldn't have to face the Tigers' Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder regularly in 2013.

  The sun was shining, the fans were decked out in red and white, and the Phillies were losing to the Toronto Blue Jays. But those at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday for the Phillies' last exhibition game before the regular season begins on Monday retained high hopes for the season to come. In the tailgating lots outside Lincoln Financial Field, buoyed by the sunny weather, fans said they were feeling optimistic even after a dismal 2012 season. "We're excited - we're ready to roll," said Tyler Madden, of Stewartstown, Pa., happily grilling hot dogs in Lot K. "We're ready for a rebound for sure.

Domonic Brown always went into spring training believing that he could be a starting outfielder for the Phillies. In another few days, that belief is likely to become a reality. Brown started in left field Friday night as the Phillies played the Toronto Blue Jays in the first of their two-game windup to the exhibition season, one that has seen the 25-year-old lefthanded hitter compile some of the biggest numbers of anyone in Grapefruit League play. Brown entered Friday's play tied for the most home runs (seven)

Kyle Kendrick will hope the main event goes better than the dress rehearsal. Kendrick, scheduled to start the Phillies home opener Friday, had one last spring tune-up Saturday in the exhibition finale against the Toronto Blue Jays at Citizens Bank Park. The 10-4 loss wasn't the warm homecoming he wanted. Kendrick allowed five earned runs on six hits in three innings. He left the mound to sarcastic cheers after finally retiring the side in a four-run third inning. "The good thing is they don't count," Kendrick said.