The sun is out. The clubhouse is filled with pitchers and catchers. Charlie Manuel is in uniform (a trimmed-down uniform, of course).

And the batting practice gear is on the perfectly-manicured diamond at Bright House Field.

Welcome to the first workout day of Phillies baseball, 2010.

It's not exactly the kind of Florida people back home in Philly are day-dreaming about (the temperature on the scoreboard is reading at 50 degrees, there's a cool, crisp wind in the air), but the official beginning of spring training - the first sounds of bat meeting ball, of mitts-a-poppin' - are just about to get underway.

The team is currently in a meeting before the first workout begins.

Not a whole lot of news, since all of the pitchers and catchers had to report yesterday. And many have been in town a long while before this week - Roy Halladay has been around for at least a month and Kyle Kendrick, who is a five o'clock shadow away from being Halladay's doppelganger, came in the door all the way back on January 5.

The only new face so far today: new third baseman Placido Polanco. He walked in shortly before 9 a.m. and shook hands with Chad Durbin, Brian Schneider, Halladay, Kendrick and an assortment of other guys getting their morning grub on before hitting the field.

Polanco will use the weekend before position players have to report (that's Monday), to continue to work on the transition from second to third base.


Until Cole Hamels meets the press later, it's kind of quiet down here. Just a lot of small-talk in the clubhouse: I was chatting with Charlie about his diet and about trying to fill out an all-time outfield with Willie Mays and Ted Williams (he was leaning toward Hank Aaron, but said he'd have to find a spot for Babe Ruth, "maybe DH/closer" and I asked Brad Lidge a little about something I first talked with him about last summer, when trade rumors began to become rampant: how he and Roy Halladay were both seniors in Denver-area high schools in the spring of 1995 (also my graduating year).

Lidge admitted Halladay was the better pitcher at a time, but his team (Cherry Creek) got the best of Halladay's (Arvada West) in the state playoffs that spring.


But Lidge admits Halladay was the bigger prospect. "We all knew he was going to be a 1st round pick since middle school," said Lidge, who went on to pitch at Notre Dame while Halladay was drafted by the Blue Jays out of high school (17th pick overall) that summer.

That's all for now. More after Hamels speaks following the workout...