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.