It’s hard to fathom since we’ve had snow on the ground this week, but Phillies pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater in just two weeks, February 14th. If it seems like the World Series ended just a few minutes ago, think of it this way: the Phillies off-season this year, because of their October run, will be about 15.5 weeks. The NFL regular season runs 17 weeks.
Nonetheless, it’s exciting that the bats and cleats will be dusted off in just a couple of weeks.
Most of the spots on the Phillies roster are set, but keep an eye on a few former BlueClaws (JA Happ, Kyle Kendrick, Carlos Carrasco) as they battle with Chan-Ho Park for the fifth starter spot in the Phils rotation. Besides Ryan Howard’s upcoming arbitration case, it’s pretty quiet on the Phillies front; nobody has written any controversial books.
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Also, former BlueClaws catcher Carlos Ruiz has changed his mind, and will play for Panama in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
“The reason is that Carlos, as Spring Training was starting to approach, was really focused on bringing another championship to Philadelphia, and he felt like the best way to do that was to be with the Phillies [this spring],” said Ruiz’s agent Marc Kligman, who has already notified Phillies GM Ruben Amaro about his client’s choice. “But since he made his decision, he had subsequent meetings with officials from Panama, and he reconsidered his decision. He felt it was important to the citizens of Panama that he’s ready to play for them.”
Ruiz joins former BlueClaws Brad Harman, Joel Naughton, Drew Naylor (Australia), Carlos Carrasco (Venezuela) and Mike Spidale (Italy) on the provisional rosters for the upcoming WBC.
Yesterday we introduced you to 70 in 70, our 
Played every Tuesday at FirstEnergy Park (10 games in 2009), our fans will play Baseball Bingo, basically regular bingo but instead of the Bingo-master pulling numbers out of a drum, the numbers correspond to the plays that occur during that day’s BlueClaws game. When you connect five spots in a row, yell Bingo and come up to get a prize. Simple. Fun. Free.
Former Phillies OF, and Teaneck, NJ native, Doug Glanville has been writing guest op-ed columns for the New York Times lately, and he does a really nice job. He wrote one on the experience of 
Today, Janurary 29th, marks the 70th day before the season opener at FirstEnergy Park on April 9th. In honor of the 70 days until the first game and the 70 home games that will be played here at FirstEnergy Park, BlueClaws Blog will feature something new every day in the form of a 70-part Countdown to Opening Day. We’ll call it 70 in 70.
Q: How valuable is being able to play multiple positions?
As we went around the office asking folks about their favorite BlueClaws memory, the runaway winner was September 15, 2006…the BlueClaws winning their first South Atlantic League title. 
2002 BlueClaws pitcher Gavin Floyd celebrates his 26th birthday today. Floyd, a 2001 first-round pick of the Phillies, went 11-10 with the 2002 BlueClaws, but had a 2.77 ERA. The lack of run support he received was never more clear than on July 14th, 2002, when Floyd threw a nine-inning no-hitter but the BlueClaws lost 1-0 to Lexington. Traded for Freddy Garcia in December, 2006, Floyd went 17-8 for the White Sox last year.
2006 BlueClaws pitcher Mike Zagurski also celebrates his 26th birthday today. Zagurski, a BlueClaw in 2006, moved from Hi-A Clearwater all the way to Philadelphia by Memorial Day in 2007, the fastest surge up the system for a former BlueClaw. He missed 2008 with an injury, and 
Also, I thought this was interesting. This date in 1956, the New York Giants (football) moved their home games from the Polo Grounds to Yankee Stadium, which fueled speculation that the baseball Giants might be leaving. Of course, this speculation proved correct. Both the Giants and Dodgers played their last games in New York in 1957.