Baseball, my friends.

When you see Bracketology and PGA Golf in full swing it makes it a little more real, but this is the most wonderful time of the year (Sorry, Santa). While some take this time to reflect with doom and gloom on an off-season of botched free agent negotiations and GM Failures that will doom the Phillies to another .500 season and a bitter October, I see the opportunity for a veteran, winning team, to show people they are still, as J-Roll once said, “The Team To Beat.”

That’s the great thing about spring: Hope springs eternal.

The old guys have “spring” in their step, and most importantly this year, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are in Clearwater working out and presumably healthy.

So why are we so focused on what we all perceive to be a lost offseason? Let’s take a look at what we have to be excited for in this time of new baseball beginnings.

Health

Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

For the first time in three or so years, the Phillies enter Spring Training relatively healthy.

Ryan Howard seems loose in his press conferences and seems to be moving well.  If he can remain healthy through spring and into the regular season, he still has the ability to hit 35 – 40 home runs and drive in 115+, which would make him one of the most productive clean up guys in the league once again.

Chase Utley is fielding grounders, taking BP, and will most likely play in his first Grapefruit League competition since 2010. Utley, most importantly is taking grounders at 2^nd base, Not 3^rd like some crazy people wanted, keeping together one of the most consistent double play combos in the game with he and J-Roll at short.

Roy Halladay is saying all of the right things; that he is stronger, he feels good, he can get back to the strike throwing machine he was born to be.

I believe him. One thing we know about Roy is that he is one of the hardest working players in the game, with an entire offseason to rehab.  I believe he will come back stronger than ever. Remember, he didn’t start having the issues until spring last year, which didn’t leave much time to work on getting better. He had a long, bitter, playoff-less, offseason to do that this year.

Exhibit A: The San Francisco Giants.

Two out of the last three World Series championships, all with no super stars (Buster Posey will be if not already) Just stud starting pitching and a deep and very solid bullpen.

The Phillies passed on Josh Hamilton, Michael Bourn and B.J. Upton, but added a Guy like Ben Revere. Revere is a guy who will never take a play off in center, and is going to be a terror on the base paths. He may not hit home runs, but he has the ability to blossom into the kind of guy you need to win championships in today’s MLB.

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Michael Young is young only in his last name. But let’s not be confused, this guy can hit. Remember when Shane Victorino was in the two-hole behind Rollins and in front of Utley and the offense looked great?  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Michael Young batting 2^nd. This guy WILL hit for average, WILL score and drive in runs and WILL hit around 20 home runs in the small NL ball parks. Most importantly as I said earlier, Chase Utley doesn’t have to play 3^rd base.

This is all without mention of the addition of Mike Adams to the pen to set up Paps, the re-addition of Chad Durbin, the development of guys like Dominic Brown, Freddy Galvis, Darrin Ruf and John Mayberry. You can focus on Delmon Young’s waist size or Carlos Ruiz’s suspension, but the Phillies still have well above average pitching.

Where you see old guys, I see experience. But most importantly these  guys will (when healthy) win.  All of the panic, the doom and gloom; it has to stop (at least until the All-Star break, or maybe the trade deadline).

It is spring – nature, along with World Series Dreams, are coming to life all across the country, and Toronto, so why spend this time worrying?  Look at the positive things the team has done, and get excited for a healthy and successful season in South Philly. Where you see old guys behind a closed window, I see experienced veterans who want to prove they are still the team to beat.

Maybe it’s just irrational Spring Fever.

But maybe it’s not.

Ryan railing on notion Phils are old. “Call us old if you want to and sweep us under the rug. Just don’t be surprised by us [this season].”

— Chris Branch (@ChrisBranchTNJ) February 14, 2013

Howard: “If you focus on the window closing, you’ll miss out on that cool breeze coming in.”

— Ryan Lawrence (@ryanlawrence21) February 14, 2013

It was an eloquent, friendly Ryan Howard that greeted reporters, allowing people to remember how embarrassed they should feel for transitioning from hating his contract to hating him as a person.

PICTURED: Everything’s fine. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

He did not approach the mic with a limp, he did not pretend he was eating smarties while actually popping meds, and he even called Michael Young “not too shabby,” leading the beleagured, elderly third baseman to pop a bottle of champagne.  It’s like he’s already hitting .250!

If players’ main jobs during the preseason with the press is to keep everybody confident enough to keep buying tickets, then Ryan followed Doc with success this afternoon.  There’s no clause about charisma in his contract, that we know of, so this stuff is coming out pro bono.  Of course, it’s easy to give everybody a blessing when the optimism of spring training is blinding our habitual fevered rage, but hey, look, the sun’s out!

Ryan also dealt with the questions that will be tossed at every Phillie player, all year long – is the window closed?  Are you too old?  Do you ever look in the mirror and hate yourself because of how old you are?

And he responded with diplomacy and excitement, as if the stigma was a challenge to be answered by bringing a baseball bat down on some antagonist’s feeble brain.  I mean, socking a dinger.

Everyone had a good laugh at Ryan’s “cool breeze” metaphor, which led to some off camera tomfoolery, which led to Ryan threatening to Feberze an off screen Jim Salisbury.  Cameras shut off then, presumably due to an incredibly vicious fight broke out.

Meanwhile, Kevin Frandsen was thrilled to see the Phillies remembered to get him some bats this year.

Pearls!! @maruccisports @kyleourso ur like a fine artist dude! twitter.com/KevinFrandsen/…

— Kevin Frandsen (@KevinFrandsen) February 14, 2013

Feelings, again.  Images of the sun.  Cliff Lee, smiling wildly as his bullpen session goes explosively well.  Faraway glimpses of Jimmy Rollins, powering through a sprint on the warning track, and flashing a private grin at the thought of one more go at October.

But most stunning of all were some of the numbers.

Forty-five of 60 players have already checked into Phillies camp.First workouts Wed for pitch and catch and Sat full squad #Philliestalk

— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyCSN) February 12, 2013

45 out of 60!  That’s far better than my score on the final exam at Phillies Blogging Academy.  Which I of course cheated on.

“Yeah… I like the sound of that.” Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Now, while it is impossible to identify everyone who has bothered to show up, we can use deductive reasoning and some pictures that are easily accessible via the internet to confirm that Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Phillippe Aumont, Michael Stutes, Cliff Lee, Rich Dubee, Charlie Manuel, some more guys I can’t recognize after hysterical blindness caused by hysterical, high pitched baseball-squealing.

Roy Halladay has of course been there since the last appearance of the Comet Hale-Bopp.

Yes, Spring Training has begun, and we have nothing to do but allow ourselves to succumb to the hopeless optimism of the season.  Maybe Chase Utley will play all year.  Maybe Michael Young can move laterally.  Maybe the outfielders will have a proportional amount of gloves to players.

All we have to do right now is gaze at the images before us and smile and nod, as if under the combined spells of nostalgia and ignorance.