Spring is in air with as pitchers, catchers report

By Larry Fine

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three words that warm the hearts of baseball fans -- "pitchers and catchers" -- are being tossed around this wintry week as Spring Training camps in Florida and Arizona open their gates for early arrivals.

Pitchers and catchers report some two weeks ahead of their team mates to loosen up their throwing arms, kindling a reflex reaction among the game's faithful that spring is on the way.

New York City's first serious snowfall of the season is forecast to begin Tuesday, coinciding with Yankees pitchers and catchers reporting for warm-up duty in Tampa, Florida.

Battery mates on the Washington Nationals are the other early birds of the major leagues, landing at their Viera, Fla., camp Tuesday while the U.S. capital endures snow and rain.

The most intense reaction to baseball's reemergence is sure to take place in Fort Myers, Florida, where Japanese ace Daisuke Matsuzaka reports for duty Friday.

Pitchers, particularly, are closely watched in the spring. The greatest scrutiny will be focused on Matsuzaka, MVP of last year's inaugural World Baseball Classic, who is scheduled to work out for the first time Sunday in front of an army of photographers and writers from Japan and the United States.

The Yankees, arch-rivals of the Red Sox, will unveil their own Japanese pitching import, Kei Igawa, a left-hander who shared his league strikeout lead last season in Japan.

World Series champion St Louis Cardinals are among seven teams that report Wednesday.

The Cardinals made few roster changes, the main move being the return of second baseman Adam Kennedy, whom they traded to the Angels for Jim Edmonds seven years ago.

American League champion Detroit Tigers open their Florida camp Friday, followed by what could be the first of PFP (pitchers fielding practice) sessions in the aftermath of the five errors made by Tigers pitchers during the Series.

The Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants get the jump on the 12 Arizona-based teams with workouts starting on Thursday.

The Cubs unveil a retooled roster and a new manager when they take the field in Mesa, Arizona. Lou Piniella takes over the reins of the National League club that spent $300 million in the off-season including acquisitions of outfielder Alfonso Soriano and pitchers Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis.

The distance between the Oakland Athletics' complex in Phoenix and the San Francisco Giants' practice camp in Tempe is 10 miles but it represents quite a jump for lefty Barry Zito.

Zito left the A's after seven seasons to sign a seven-year, $126 million contract with the Giants, who also play their home games on the other side of the Bay Bridge from Oakland.

By Sunday all 30 major league teams will have opened their training camps.