Spring Training

CLEARWATER, Fla. - It was 10:03 a.m. Wednesday when I carefully pushed through the glass doors that lead to the bullpen and infield diamond that sits below the main entrance to Bright House Field. A light rain fell as I turned right, walked about 30 yards, and headed toward the Carpenter Complex Fields, where I have watched men stretch, throw, hit, run, and play baseball since Mike Schmidt's final spring training as a player in 1989. I didn't know I was being watched. As I passed the closed weight room and neared the steps that lead up to Frenchy's Tiki Bar in left field at the Phillies' spring-training home, I could hear men talking on two-way radios.

The Yankees signing 39-year-old Andy Pettitte, who spent all of last season throwing baseballs to his kids, has heartened a lot of American League teams. If the Yanks were sure that their other six potential starters were healthy and effective, they'd have kept Pettitte as a spring-training workout director and not given him $2.5 million. But, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, "Among an out-of-shape Michael Pineda's disappearing fastball velocity, a heretofore-underperforming Phil Hughes and an injured Freddy Garcia, the Yankees face rotation questions.

Mike Schmidt last night was anointed the Phillies' opening-day third baseman, but the team's general manager said he still had some strong reservations. General manager Lee Thomas said he remained concerned about the readiness of Schmidt, who still is not throwing 100 percent and has not hit a spring- training home run. "From the beginning, I've operated on the assumption that if Mike couldn't do the job, he'd know that and come to us," Thomas said before last night's 5-4 exhibition victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Bob Watson insists baseball really means it this time when it vows to speed up games. Since 1995, commissioner Bud Selig repeatedly has vowed crackdowns. The average time of a nine-inning game, meanwhile, ballooned with the increase in offense, going from 2 hours, 47 minutes in 1998 to 2:53 the following year to a record 2:58 in 2000. Last season, with a larger strike zone and a decrease in scoring, the average dropped back to 2:54. "Things have kind of slipped through the cracks," said Watson, who last month replaced Frank Robinson as baseball's vice president of on-field operations.

DAVID ROBERTSON walked out of the Yankees clubhouse, holding a pair of crutches, his right foot in an oversized black boot. Instead of making his second spring-training appearance, he had gone to a hospital yesterday for an MRI after a household accident: He sprained a foot when he stumbled on stairs while moving boxes. "It's embarrassing. I already had 'Mo' rag me out about it," he said after speaking with closer Mariano Rivera. The New York Yankees were waiting to find out the cost of their first misstep of 2012.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Cody Asche was sure the transition from the University of Nebraska to professional baseball would be a smooth one. "I expected to just carry on," Asche said. "Williamsport would just be another part of what I did in college. I figured I'd go in and roll right along, and I did a complete opposite of what I thought. " Asche, a fourth-round draft choice last year, had hit .327 and led the Big 12 with 12 home runs during his junior season with the Cornhuskers.

NINE THINGS I learned at spring training in Clearwater, Fla. (and one I already knew). Bottle service: As a young player at his first big-league spring training, Charlie Manuel had a locker between Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison. One day, Allison invited Manuel to dinner with the intention of schooling the young player on "how it is here in the big leagues and how you're supposed to act and everything," Manuel told me. Out at a bar in Orlando, Manuel recalled Allison saying, " 'I'm going to introduce you to a drink today, and you're going to drink it for the rest of your life.

You are traveling to find the true meaning of spring training. You walk off the plane and throw your winter jacket into the back seat of the rent-a-car. You watch the palm trees sway, and you feel baseball in the sunshine. You must be on the right track. You are not looking for the Grapefruit League standings. Or for Dwight Gooden's spring-training ERA. You are not looking for Dwight Gooden, period. You are not looking for Dale Murphy, George Brett, Pedro Guerrero or Eddie Murray.

"Let's go eat" were Hunter Pence's three most memorable words in 2011. By the time the Phillies' season ended, however, he was still hungry even after getting his first taste of playoff baseball. "We definitely didn't reach our ultimate goal last year," Pence said Monday night at the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association Dinner in Cherry Hill. "We accomplished some great things. We had a great regular season, won another division title, so to be a part of that was special.

THE PHILLIES will begin Grapefruit League play on March 3 against the New York Yankees at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. The Phillies will play 17 home games this spring, including an opening exhibition against Florida State on Feb. 29. They will conclude the exhibition season with two games against Pittsburgh on April 2 and 3 at Citizens Bank Park. Reporting dates for pitchers and catchers and the full team have not been set yet, the team said. Spring-training three-game packs will go on sale Dec. 14 on phillies.com, and individual ticket sales for spring training begin Jan. 12. The full schedule is on Page 55. In other news: * The Phillies outrighted Pete Orr and Brandon Moss, and moved Jose Contreras from the 60-day disabled list to the 40-man roster.

ST. LOUIS - Chase Utley took two sessions of batting practice before the Phillies' game Thursday night against the St. Louis Cardinals and manager Charlie Manuel liked what he saw. "I was encouraged with the way the ball was jumping off his bat and how nice he was swinging," Manuel said before his team opened a four-game series against the defending World Series champions at Busch Stadium. "And any time he goes out and takes ground balls, I get encouraged by that. " Utley's BP sessions may have been encouraging, but his work in the field was limited and that's the part of the game that causes the second baseman's creaky left knee the most pain.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - It was 10:03 a.m. Wednesday when I carefully pushed through the glass doors that lead to the bullpen and infield diamond that sits below the main entrance to Bright House Field. A light rain fell as I turned right, walked about 30 yards, and headed toward the Carpenter Complex Fields, where I have watched men stretch, throw, hit, run, and play baseball since Mike Schmidt's final spring training as a player in 1989. I didn't know I was being watched. As I passed the closed weight room and neared the steps that lead up to Frenchy's Tiki Bar in left field at the Phillies' spring-training home, I could hear men talking on two-way radios.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Cody Asche was sure the transition from the University of Nebraska to professional baseball would be a smooth one. "I expected to just carry on," Asche said. "Williamsport would just be another part of what I did in college. I figured I'd go in and roll right along, and I did a complete opposite of what I thought. " Asche, a fourth-round draft choice last year, had hit .327 and led the Big 12 with 12 home runs during his junior season with the Cornhuskers.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera says he will return to the mound by 2013, vowing to overcome a knee injury that figures to end his season. Rivera had hinted at the start of spring training that he would retire after this season, and he wasn't sure what he would do after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament and damaging the meniscus in his right knee while shagging fly balls during batting practice Thursday. In the visitors clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium on Friday, the 42-year-old sat on a stool in front of his locker and firmly said that he will not allow his career to end this way. "I'm coming back.

It appears as if the Phillies' patience with Tyson Gillies may finally be paying off. The most important statistic this season for the centerfielder acquired in the 2009 trade that sent Cliff Lee to Seattle is games played, and that number stood at 23 going into the weekend. Gillies, because of a variety of injuries, played in only 31 games over the last two seasons, including three last year, when he was sidelined by hamstring and foot injuries. "If I would have set a goal for him in the spring, it would have been for him to hit .270 or .275 in April and that he would play the entire month," said Joe Jordan, the Phillies' first-year director of player development.

WASHINGTON - Charlie Manuel's 22d different lineup in 27 games was posted in the Phillies clubhouse and some players stared at it longer than others. Placido Polanco was around the corner and down the stairs in the batting cage with hitting coach Greg Gross. Polanco was Manuel's new No. 3 hitter in a never-ending quest to find production from the spot, which is traditionally reserved for a team's best hitter. "What's interesting about that?" Manuel said. "I hit him third before quite a bit. " The manager had, for 28 games in 2011 - mostly in May. That experiment was abandoned once Chase Utley returned for good last June.

ALLENTOWN - Scott Podsednik admits that it's not easy being in triple A, attempting to work his way back to the major leagues. But the 36-year-old outfielder understands that at this point he has no better alternative. So he is intent on making the most of his time with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, hoping to either be called up to the Phillies or earn an opportunity with another major-league team. Podsednik suffered an injury-plagued 2011 in which he missed much of the minor-league season with a stress fracture in his left foot and a right-foot sprain after signing with the Phillies and being assigned to Lehigh Valley in May. During the offseason Podsednik re-signed with the Phillies.

ALLENTOWN - Bryce Harper is one of the few minor-league players who are major attractions. Despite being in only his second year of professional ball, the Washington Nationals farmhand creates the suspicion that he will be playing at Citizens Bank Park, Citi Field, and other major-league venues before the season is over. The road show for Harper took the 19-year-old this week to Coca-Cola Park, where his triple-A Syracuse Chiefs will conclude a three-game series Friday with the Phillies' affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Joe Blanton sat in on the initial news conference and posed for all the photo shoots last year in spring training, but he was no more a fifth ace than Peter Best was a fifth member of the Beatles. And that was before his elbow started barking with a mysterious pain. By the end of the season, Blanton was nothing more than a forgotten man stuck in Clearwater rehabilitating an injury that just would not seem to go away. He made a few September relief appearances and even got into a postseason game.