Spring Training

The Phillies went into the season two years ago with four aces and a sense that something special was about to happen. And they were right. The special wasn't quite as special as they had hoped, and they had no idea that Vance Worley, not Roy Oswalt, would be the fourth ace. Worley didn't even get to pose as one of the five aces when it was inexplicably decided that Joe Blanton should be the ace of something, too. Two years later, the...

LAKELAND, Fla. - The one thing no player or team wants the day before it leaves spring training is an injury. Phillies infielder Kevin Frandsen believes he barely avoided one Wednesday. Facing Detroit's Justin Verlander in the top of the third inning, Frandsen was hit in the left wrist by a fastball. He went to first base and remained in the game through the top of the inning but was removed by manager Charlie Manuel before the Tigers batted in the bottom of the third. "It's not like it's painful, but sore," Frandsen said after revealing the baseball stitch marks imprinted on his wrist.

Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Roy Halladay arrived for spring training as a trio of aging stars whose ability to play was limited in 2012 by injuries. The impact on the Phillies could be seen in the standings. After five consecutive division titles, the team finished at .500, and questions arose about the end of perhaps the best era in the franchise's history. The impact on the players carried into the offseason, in which each man in his own way altered his plan of attack with the hope of an improved 2013 for himself and his team.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Kyle Kendrick was pitching in a minor league game in the last week of March. This year, that is a good thing. Kendrick, who has spent most of the last 4 years in a swing role that has sometimes left him on the precipice of the minor leagues, wrapped up a strong spring training on Monday afternoon. He allowed five earned runs, while surrendering three home runs on a windy day, but he struck out eight and walked only one, and afterward was pleased with his preparation for the regular season.

Crowds at spring-training games are down this year by about 14 percent, the Associated Press reported Wednesday, citing totals compiled by STATS. Several factors are blamed for the decline, including exhibition games starting more than a week earlier this year before fans had arrived in Florida and Arizona on vacation and spring break. Chilly weather also led to empty seats, and fans cited watered-down lineups resulting from players' being injured, taking part in the World Baseball Classic, or wanting to rest.

At Phillies spring training games, some fans' fancy lightly turns to thoughts of glove. That can happen when foul ground is patrolled by Hooters girls, as has been the case for a few years at Brighthouse Field in Clearwater, Fla. Saturday, two remarkable things happened during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays. First, a Hooters girl pretty cleanly fielded a sharp grounder. Second, the ball wasn't foul. "That was a fair ball, right over the bag . . . and the ballgirl, she knocked it down ... She has no idea that she has interfered with the play," coolly stated Tom McCarthy, the Phillies play-by-play man. ( View video below .)

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - No one is hitting for more power in the Phillies camp than Kevin Frandsen, a backup infielder. Backup infielders are not supposed to have slugging percentages like .808. Frandsen homered off David Price on Friday. He is hitting .385 (10 for 26), with six of those hits going for extra bases. "He's hitting, man," manager Charlie Manuel said. "He did some real good hitting. That's big-time hitting. Big-league hitting off a big-league pitcher. " Frandsen was rewarded with an $850,000 contract for his strong showing in 2012.

AH, THOSE wacky Cubbies. While hunting quail last December, Cubs manager Dale Sveum was accidentally shot in the right ear and back by former major leaguer Robin Yount. Thankfully, they were using BBs and Sveum wasn't seriously injured. Fast-forward to Sunday in the Cubs' spring training clubhouse in Meza, Ariz. The second-year skipper was meeting with the team when the players sprung into action. "Halfway into the meeting they all took their jackets off and they all had bright orange hunting gear on, and hats," Sveum told the Associated Press.

Every team, even the ones that just won or will eventually win the World Series, arrives at spring training with a bag full of questions that vary in size and importance. The Phillies will report to work Wednesday in Clearwater, Fla., with some whoppers on their plate for the second straight year. Here are the five questions of greatest importance as the sweet sound of ball hitting glove beckons.   Cy Roy or Sigh Roy? The biggest question of all surrounding the Phillies is whether all those innings and pitches have finally caught up with Roy Halladay, who missed more than seven weeks last season with a strained right shoulder.