The Phillies spring training opener - on Tuesday night against Florida State - was rained out.

It's been torrential rain all night. We're all really looking forward to the drive back to the beach. I may need a (bigger) boat...

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On to the real news of the day:

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel summoned the media to his office just an hour before the exhibition opener to name his starter for the regular season opener...

Brett Myers.

"We're trying to set up our rotation the way we want," said Manuel, whose team clinched a playoff berth last year in part to Myers' presence at the back end of the bullpen and Hamels' emergence as an ace.

"I did talk to Hamels; I felt like I should talk to him and he seemed like he definitely was OK with it," Manuel continued. "I told him he was our No. 1 last year and he had a big year, but that’s the way we wanted our rotation up."


Surprising? Maybe, since Cole Hamels established himself as one of the best pitchers in the league last summer. The lefty finished 15-5 with a 3.39 ERA - he was sixth in the National League Cy Young Award voting.

"Hamels had a great year last year, it’s going to be hard for me to take over the No.1 spot when he had that year last year," said Myers, who said he was surprised by the news. "I’m going to have to work that much harder to earn that spot."

Still a little shocking, considering Myers' respect for Hamels? Consider this:

Myers fell in love with being a closer, where he collected 21 saves, last year when he moved to the bullpen. Giving him the nod on Opening Day could be the confidence booster he needs in returning to the rotation.

And as anyone who knows Myers can attest, he lives in adrenaline. (But could it work against him too?)

Myers was last year's Opening Day starter.

The veteran right-hander, you may recall, threw the last pitch of the regular season in Citizens Bank Park in 2007. Now he'll throw out the first pitch in '08.

"Opening Day or the playoffs, when you here your name announced for the first time of the year you get chills because the fans are excited because it is the first game," Myers said. "(Last year) it was something where I paid a little bit more attention to what was going on, like walking out and trying to suck it in a little bit in instead of doing my normal thing. I kind of took it in a little bit."

** Pick up the Daily Times tomorrow (Wednesday) for a better explanation. Pitching coach Rich Dubee's comments (which I would post here, but I am on a deadline for the print edition) made sense.