Just ONE MONTH until pitchers and catchers report!!!

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Outfielder Jayson Werth finalized a $10 million, two-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday to avoid salary arbitration.

Werth set career highs in nine offensive categories last season as he helped the Phillies win their first World Series in 28 years. He hit .273 with 24 home runs and 67 RBIs to go along with 20 steals and boosted his batting average to .309 in the postseason.

With the departure of Pat Burrell in free agency, Werth is the lone returning right-handed power bat in a lefty-heavy lineup that includes 2006 MVP Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. For his career, Werth has hit .263 with 57 homers and 222 RBIs in 460 games.

He gets a $1 million signing bonus, $2 million this season and $7 million in 2010.

Howard is Philadelphia’s only remaining arbitration-eligible player. He requested $18 million and was offered $14 million by the team. The Phillies have already avoided arbitration with ace Cole Hamels, outfielder Shane Victorino and three other players.

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Ryan Howard and the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies season is creeping closer. Just a month or so away until the pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, and just following that the rest report.

Will the Phillies repeat?

Will Howard put up MVP type numbers?

Go Phillies!

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Elvis’ master has left the building.

Pat Burrell’s 11-year tenure as a member of the Phillies organization officially ended yesterday when the free-agent slugger signed a two-year, $16 million contract with the Tampa Bay Rays, the team he helped beat in the World Series in October.

Burrell, 32, will be the Rays’ designated hitter. He leaves the Phillies ranked third on the franchise’s all-time list with 251 home runs. Only Mike Schmidt, with 548, and Del Ennis, with 259, hit more as Phillies.

“At the end of last year, obviously, I got a chance to know the team pretty well,” Burrell said of his new employer at a news conference in St. Petersburg, Fla. “I think this team is going to be competitive for a long time. As a little bit older player . . . I’m here to help.”

Burrell was the first overall pick in the 1998 draft and spent nine seasons in the majors with the Phils. The leftfielder’s time in Philadelphia was marked by periods of inconsistency, but he averaged 31 homers and 98 RBIs over the last four seasons.

The high point of Burrell’s time with the Phils came in his final at-bat with the club. His double in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the World Series to set up the go-ahead run in the clinching 4-3 victory.

Two days after helping the Phils win their first World Series in 28 years, Burrell; his wife, Michelle; and Elvis, the couple’s 125-pound English bulldog, rode at the front of a rousing victory parade down Broad Street. Elvis was a regular at Citizens Bank Park, often staying in the clubhouse laundry room during games.

Although yesterday’s signing made it official, Burrell’s departure from Philadelphia had been a fait accompli for weeks. The team made no real effort to re-sign him, choosing instead to sign former Seattle Mariners leftfielder Raul Ibanez to a three-year, $31.5 million contract.

Phils officials believe Ibanez will provide more consistency, offensively and defensively, than Burrell.

“We wish Pat the best of luck in the future with Tampa Bay, and, hopefully, we’ll get a chance to see him in the World Series next year,” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “Pat was one of our leaders, and we came to admire and respect the perseverance he showed during tough times in Philadelphia.”

Burrell made $14 million last season in the final year of a six-year, $50 million contract. His new deal averages $8 million per season, well below what Burrell likely sought earlier in the off-season.

“As we all know, the market isn’t what it was when we came into the off-season,” said Ed Hayes, one of Burrell’s agents. “It’s a good contract in today’s market. And more importantly, it provides Pat with an opportunity to win again. That’s what he was most interested in.”

The Rays, born as an expansion club in 1998, did not win more than 70 games in any of their first 10 seasons. Brimming with young talent, they won 97 games in 2008 and finished first in the rugged American League East.

In addition to giving the Rays righthanded power, Burrell is expected to provide leadership in the youthful clubhouse. Former Phillies teammates say Burrell was excellent in that role.

Burrell maintains a residence in the Tampa Bay area. He will see his former teammates in a pair of spring-training games, then again on June 23-25, when the Phillies visit Tropicana Field.

Notes. Pitcher Chan Ho Park will be in Philadelphia this week for a physical, after which his signing will be officially announced. . . . The Phils have been mentioned in media reports as contenders to sign free-agent pitcher Derek Lowe, but sources say that characterization has been exaggerated. The team talked with Lowe’s representatives earlier this winter, before Jamie Moyer re-signed. While the Phils continue to monitor Lowe’s status, it is doubtful they would be serious players for the pitcher, who is seeking a multiyear deal in the neighborhood of $16 million per season. . . . The salary-arbitration filing period has begun. Figures will be exchanged Jan. 19. The Phils have eight players eligible for arbitration: Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Ryan Madson, Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, Joe Blanton, Chad Durbin and Greg Dobbs.

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The situation John Boggs and Cole Hamels currently face is one that makes baseball’s offseason such a unique beast.

Fresh off a campaign in which Hamels established himself as one of the game’s most dominant pitchers and became a World Series MVP at age 25, the young lefthander and his agent are prepared to cash in on his early success. But just how big of a payday they will reap remains to be seen. While logic says the Phillies would be prudent to lock up their young ace to a long-term deal, Hamels won’t be a free agent until after the 2012 season, meaning the Phillies control his rights for the next four seasons.

Enter the wonderful world of salary arbitration, which begins today, the first of a 10-day period when major leaguers with at least 3 years of experience – and a select few with at least 2 – can file for the process.

Hamels, like slugging first baseman Ryan Howard, is a special case, one who has little precedent with which to compare.

A season that started with him publicly expressing his discontent with his $500,000 salary ended with him winning the NLCS and World Series MVPs on top of throwing 227 1/3 innings in the regular season, second in the National League.

Boggs, a San Diego-based agent who represents Hamels, expects to at least broach the topic of a long-term deal with the Phillies at some point after arbitration figures are exchanged Jan. 19. But no serious conversations have taken place yet, and the Phillies have little incentive to make such a deal a priority.

“I’m sure as we move forward down the road we’ll have some kind of conversation,” Boggs said.

At the same time . . .

“We’ll consider anything they have to offer, but at the same time we aren’t conceding our rights [as arbitration eligible].”

Hamels is one of eight Phillies eligible for arbitration, a lode that assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said is as big as he has seen.

“I can’t remember having any more than [11 eligible players], that’s for sure,” Proefrock said earlier this offseason.

In addition to Hamels and Howard, who last offseason became the first Phillie to ever win an arbitration ruling, the headliners include rightfielder Jayson Werth, centerfielder Shane Victorino and postseason bullpen star Ryan Madson.

The other Phillies who are eligible to file are righthanders Joe Blanton and Chad Durbin and third baseman Greg Dobbs.

Last month, the Phillies took care of three other players who were eligible, signing utility infielder Eric Bruntlett and righthanded reliever Clay Condrey to 1-year deals and nontendering and re-signing reliever Scott Mathieson.

But the heaviest lifting has yet to be done.

The Phillies have given no indication they expect to reach a long-term agreement with Howard, who isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2011 season. The first baseman followed up his $10 million arbitration award with a season in which he hit 48 home runs with 146 RBI and finished second to Albert Pujols in the MVP voting. While Howard’s batting average and on-base percentage dipped to .251 and .339 – the second straight season both numbers declined – he set a team record with 32 RBI in September and was one of the biggest reasons the Phillies overtook the Mets to win their second straight NL East title.

In short, he is in line for another big raise.

Hamels, like Howard last year, is coming off a season in which there is little historical precedent. The lefthander almost certainly will earn more than the $4 million Yankees starter Chien Ming-Wang received when he lost his arbitration battle last season. How much more will be interesting to see. Wang, then 27, was 46-18 with a 3.74 ERA with 2-plus years of experience. While the regular-season numbers of Hamels are similiar (38-23, 3.43 ERA), he has established himself as one of the game’s top pitchers.

In 2003, Marlins righthander Josh Beckett won a World Series MVP in his third season. But Beckett wasn’t eligible for arbitration and earned just $1.2 million the next season. The first year he was eligible for arbitration, he signed for $2.4 million. But 6 years is an eternity in the rapidly escalating world of baseball salaries, which makes it difficult to compare his situation to that of Hamels.

Werth ($1.7 million last season) and Madson ($1.4 million), who will be free agents after this season, are also in line for healthy raises and could be prime candidates for long-term extensions. Victorino ($480,000), Dobbs ($440,000) and Blanton ($3.7 million) also performed well for the Phillies last season.

The sheer number of players eligible – last year, the Phillies dealt with just two – appears overwhelming. But Proefrock and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. both rose through the baseball ranks with salary negotiations as their specialty.

“I think each one of them is an individual case,” Proefrock said. “We look at the circumstances and react accordingly to what our long-term plans are for a particular player.”

The fun starts today. *

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A final, biting Brad Lidge slider.

And then, bedlam.

A scream of triumph decades in the making burst forth from bars and living rooms across Philadelphia last night as the Phillies won their first World Series in 28 years.

Citizens Bank Park trembled beneath the feet of 46,000 ecstatic fans. Teeming masses of humanity instantly seized South Broad Street, the intersection of Frankford and Cottman, and Main Street in Manayunk. Center City was so crammed with revelers, it was a challenge even to move.

Tens of thousands of euphoric college students from Drexel, Temple and Penn spontaneously marched en masse to join the party. The few cars on the roads were overloaded with fans, who rode on roofs, trunks, even front windows.

Fans clambered up light poles, and ripped down the World Series banners atop them. They filmed the exuberant scene with camcorders and cell phones. Fireworks shot into the sweet October sky in neighborhoods across the city.

“This is the best thing that could ever happen to this city. The Phillies finally did it, and we’re the happiest people on earth,” Joe McClain, 23, said from the intersection of Frankford and Cottman.

In Center City, a pregnant woman named Amy Arcarso pointed at the statue of William Penn atop City Hall and bellowed: “We broke your curse.”

She said she was considering naming her baby Chase.

Though the crowds were generally more joyous than rowdy, there were some reports of unruly behavior. Fans swarmed a fire truck and a Channel 3 news van near City Hall, and some overturned a green Ford Explorer outside Citizens Bank Park. Scattered celebratory gunfire was heard.

But the fans, it seemed, were too relieved and too buoyant to do much damage.

And why not? The victory halted a stretch of athletic futility so long and undistinguished that it felt, for many fans, almost like a civic failing, a kind of hole in the city’s soul.

The hole is gone.

“It means just like a monkey of your back, everyone putting us down all the time,” Robert Deegan said as he held his 11-year-old son on his shoulders at Frankford and Cottman.

It had not been what purists would call a pretty game. On Monday, before the suspension, smooth-fielding Jimmy Rollins struggled to make basic plays in the wet and the wind. Yesterday, gales seemed to knock down a couple of possible Phillies home runs.

But in the eyes of Phillies fans, the victory was all the more glorious for its grittiness, and fitting, in a way, for a city that has had its share of hard luck.

“When our teams lose, we cry. When they win, we’re overjoyed. We’ve been waiting for this for so long,” Stephanie Fink, 37, of Huntingdon Valley, said from the main concourse of Citizens Bank Park.

Even before the suspended game resumed, the emotional weight of the moment had brought tears to the eyes of 68-year-old great-grandmother and Phillies usher Mary Anthony.

When Lidge, the Phillies’ closer, struck out Eric Hinske to end the game, the waterworks really opened up.

For a few minutes, Anthony couldn’t speak. Then she threw her arms up in the air: victory.

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With the enviable task of repeating as World Series champions ahead of them, the Phillies turned to a former bat boy to take over as their general manager.

Ruben Amaro Jr. signed a three-year contract Monday to become general manager of the Phillies a quarter-century after he was handing lumber to Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton as a starry-eyed teenager.

Amaro just completed his 10th season as assistant Phillies GM and replaces the retiring Pat Gillick, who will remain with the team as an adviser. The team announced the move five days after beating the Tampa Bay Rays its second title in franchise history.

“Pat, you’ve made it a little tough for me, a tough act to follow,” Amaro told Gillick at a news conference.

The 43-year-old Amaro, whose father Ruben Amaro Sr. was a Phillies shortstop from 1960-65 and first base coach for the club, recalled being around Schmidt, reliever Tug Mcgraw and shortstop Larry Bowa as a bat boy from 1980-83—in 1980 the Phillies won the only other championship in their 126-year history.

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For years, the red flag with that magical season—1980—printed in white has flown by its lonesome above right-center field at Citizens Bank Park. It’s the symbol of the singular moment of greatness in the often-ridiculed 126-year history of the Phillies.

And now, at last, it has company.

1980, meet 2008.

It took 28 years—and, then, 46 long hours for suspended-by-rain Game 5 to resume—but the Phillies finally won another World Series, vanquishing the upstart Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 and kicking off a celebration across the Delaware Valley.

The Phillies are world champions.

At 9:58 p.m. on a cold Wednesday in late October, with flashbulbs popping before each pitch, the moment that appears like a comet—once every three decades or so—actually occurred. Indomitable closer Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske, dropped to his knees and was swarmed on the mound by his teammates, linebacker-sized slugger Ryan Howard tackling him the ground.

“You can’t feel yourself,” said Lidge, hugging his pregnant wife. “Your legs are heavy. You’re doing everything you can to control your emotions. I don’t even know what to think.”

Pedro Feliz, the slick-fielding third baseman with seemingly unrealized offensive potential, delivered the championship-clinching hit in the seventh inning against side-winding reliever Chad Bradford by driving a single through Tampa Bay’s drawn-in infield. Pinch runner Eric Bruntlett, who entered after Pat Burrell’s leadoff double, dashed home from third base.

“I think it’s the best moment for me in baseball,” Feliz said. “How could it be any better than this?”

“I’m kind of numb right now,” pitcher Brett Myers said. “I feel like we’ve made history in this city. It’s hard to explain. It feels so good to be a part of this. This is bigger than what anybody expected.”

Phillies 4, Rays 3: Pedro Feliz’s RBI single in the seventh inning broke a tie, and J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge tossed a scoreless final two innings to give the Phillies the World Series championship, four games to one. LHP Cole Hamels was named MVP of the World Series. Hamels started Game 5, which was suspended Monday night because of rain and resumed Wednesday night after a 46-hour delay. Pat Burrell picked up a leadoff double in the seventh inning, snapping an 0-for-13 drought in the Series. Eric Bruntlett, who pinch-ran for Burrell, scored the winning run.

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The Philadelphia Phillies 52-44, find themselves atop the NL East, but barely. With the Mets win Thursday night, the teams are deadlocked, and the Marlins are right behind them waiting for them both to slip.  Florida comes in 50-45, just 1.5 back of both the Mets and Phillies. With the Phillies picking up Joe Blanton, look for the Mets to make a move to pick up a quality bat, or arm.

Tonight, Jamie Moyer will take the mound for the Phillies. Moyer is 8-6, with a 3.85 era on the season. Earlier this season Moyer went 8 strong innings, allowing just 2 hits and no runs in a win over the Fish. Moyer is 5-3 in his last eight decisions, and is 4-3 this season on the road. Moyer is 9-0 lifetime against Florida.

For Florida, Ricky Nolasco will pitch. Nolasco has been a pleasant surprise for the Marlins, starting the year 10-4, with a 3.70 era. The 25 year old righthander beat the Phillies earlier in the year, going 6 innings, allowing 4 hits and 3 runs. He is 3-2 career against Philadelphia, and during the 2008 season is 4-2 at home. In 44 career starts Nolasco is 22-17.

The big man Ryan Howard is 1-8 lifetime against Howard, with that one hit being a grandlam. Howard has walked five times and struck out once against Nolasco.

We’re smelling another grandslam tonight, maybe along with a 2 or 3 run bomb. Time to shell Nolasco!

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