It may happen every spring, but it never got coverage like this

As I write this the Philadelphia Phillies are in the Sunshine State loosening up for a contest with the American League champion Detroit Tigers. This moment marks the official end of winter for me. It is opening day of spring training exhibition baseball.

I know most readers are accustomed to finding strictly technological subjects discussed in this spot, assuming that anything here can be called strict. A look at the baseball resources available on the World Wide Web is a perfect example of how technology interfaces with popular culture here in the 21st century.

We lost the time-honored pleasure of waiting for the morning paper to read the box scores decades ago when television began to take sports seriously. Today we get minute-by-minute updates of everything sport from rodeo to cricket on a 24/7 crawl at the bottom of our TV screen. The Information Age is truly a sports fan’s delight.

I have planned this column to help those of you who may not have found some of the better baseball sites online. Any resemblance this column may have to a thinly veiled presentation of my thoughts on the upcoming Major League Baseball season is purely coincidental. For those of you who have already oiled down their glove for the upcoming season, here are a couple of my favorite baseball websites.

www.phillies.com

I’m a homer. I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area for most of my life, and I have been a Phillies fan for five decades. I do not expect to be changing allegiances any time soon. To feed my year-long addiction to Phillies news and gossip, this well-designed and informative website is a perfect off-season stop.

Fresh from a 12-4 thumping of Florida State University, the Phils will take the field against the Tigers with a no-nonsense lineup that looks remarkably like a preview of Opening Day in April. Grapefruit League success and a fast start will be an important part of the road that leads to post-season glory for the red-and-white pinstripers.

National League MVP Ryan Howard looms large in the Phillies playoff plans. If Howard can continue his impressive offensive output during his third major league season, the Phightin’ Phils are in an enviable position. If Pat Burrell wakes up at the plate and hits to his previously demonstrated potential, giving Howard a few more pitches to look at, so much the better.

You can find it all here on the official site of the Philadelphia Phillies. Phans can watch video, look up statistics, get the very latest information, and even post their thoughts in the Fan Forum. Baseball lovers in the greater Delaware Valley, this site should be the first place you look in the morning. For bringing all the Phillies news there is to loyal fans like me, www.phillies.com scores five back-to-back spiders.

www.mlb.com

The official site of Major League Baseball at www.mlb.com is a chance to get the latest baseball news straight, as they say, from the horse’s mouth. If you want to check the company line, this is the place to look. Sometimes the items posted here will be more than casually surprising.

My recent visit boasted a front-page feature on the Phillies’ hot-stove acquisition of starting pitcher Freddie Garcia as a free agent. Heading into spring exhibition season with six legitimate starters, the Phillies’ rotation is in the best shape it’s been in recent memory. Keeping seasoned starter Jon Lieber on the roster may turn out to be pure genius, even if he does fraternize with managers of other teams.

The website offers a number of paid packages of online streaming content for fans who do not mind watching their baseball at a desk on a small screen. One thing I could not find while browsing media options on the site was information detailing the shutout about to be thrown at millions of cable-subscribing baseball fans.

Eager to squeeze the last few eggs out of their golden goose, MLB officials are on the verge of announcing a deal that would grant exclusive rights to distribute the popular Extra Innings package to satellite TV provider DirecTV. The package, which offers virtually every major league game during the season, allows fans to follow their favorite teams no matter where they play. Only now, if you want it, you may have to start hanging appliances on your rooftop.

The idea has ruffled the feathers of baseball fans across the country. Detractors include senatorial sluggers on both sides of the aisle, as both John Kerry and Arlen Specter have expressed their displeasure with the concept. From where I sit, it looks like a done deal, but one can always hope. For outstanding presentation of most of the information baseball fans find pertinent, www.mlb.com sneaks away with four spiders.

www.baseballblogs.org

Truly addicted baseball fans never want to be more than a mouse click away from their favorite sport. That is just the idea behind the website at www.baseballblogs.org. Titled up as All Baseball, All Blogs, All the Time, this truly enormous resource delivers as advertised.

Don’t think for a second that this Information Age extravaganza is just for Phillies fans, or even Yankees and Red Sox fans. My recent visit yielded more than 1,000 entries related to the Kansas City Royals. Mets posts were in excess of 7,000. If there is somebody out there with something to say about baseball, there is a good chance that you can read it here.

One of the Phillies-related blogs detailed the Florida State exhibition game, noting that top draft pick Kyle Drabek started things off with a gopher ball but settled down to offer a competent performance, showcasing his diving curve. Son of Cy Young Award winner, Doug Drabek is just one of the top-flight pitching prospects salted away in the Phillies’ minor league system. Best of all, he is just 19 years old.

While much of the blog world is based on conjecture and opinion, true insight into the game can be found here. Baseball Blogs gives the fan an effective forum to sound off on the national pastime and interested parties the opportunity to browse. For making baseball fandom truly interactive in the Information Age, www.baseballblogs.org drafts five first-round spiders.

I am ready for some baseball. While I may not be enjoying Extra Innings this season, I still plan to follow every pitch of the 2007 Phillies campaign. If you are similarly afflicted, I would like to hear from you. Send your favorite Internet baseball stories to granese@juno.com and I may tell you how I owe my career in the information industry to baseball.