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FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Philadelphia Phillies.

The City of Brotherly Love's long championship drought came to an end when Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske in Game 5 of the World Series last October. The city exploded in appreciation of a team that's a blueprint for success in the modern game, with homegrown stars studding the lineup and top of the rotation, and a handful of savvy acquisitions, like Lidge, sprinkled around to fill holes.

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

As you could probably tell from the parade down Broad Street, everything came together for the Phillies in 2008. Cole Hamels made the leap from No. 1 starter to shutdown ace, Brad Lidge didn't blow a save from April to October and the big three in the lineup kept on churning until the Rays were dispatched and Philadelphia rejoiced for the first time in 25 years.

Hamels, Lidge, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley will all be in their familiar roles when next season opens. No matter what the Mets do, that nucleus should make the Phillies the favorites in the NL East, not to mention the two steps beyond that, before next season. That doesn't mean there isn't work to do.

You don't need to look any further than Pat Gillick's retirement and Ruben Amaro's ascension to general manager to see how little time there is to celebrate a title before thinking about next year. The Phillies don't need any wholesale changes, but they can't stand pat either. Like sharks, baseball teams need to keep moving or they'll die where they sit.

In the Playoff Pulse series, our MLB editor takes on a hot October topic.

On the precipice of their first World Series title in 28 years, the Phillies deserve a world of credit for the way they have executed in October. They have played to their strengths all month long, and as it turns out, those strengths are enough to win a title.

They have a dominant ace in Cole Hamels who may very well close the Fall Classic out Monday night. He's 4-0 in October and he gives the opposing pitcher very little room for error. The rest of their rotation has flown under the radar in part because of Hamels' excellence and in part because of a ballpark that inflates ERAs, but it's proven to be very capable, too, behind the southpaw ace.

They have a lights-out bullpen that finishes with Brad Lidge, but also features top-notch flame-thrower Ryan Madson as the bridge to Lidge and a number of useful situational guys like Scott Eyre and Chad Durbin.

And they have a power-laden offense that has much more balance than the Rays -- one that is capable of putting crooked numbers up on the board as it did in Game 4, but also capable of staying in the game even when it struggles with runners in scoring position because of the home run ball.

If Monday is a coronation, it will have been well earned indeed.

It appears that the blister of doom has cleared from the index finger on Kerry Wood's pitching hand and the Cubs' closer is prepared to resume his role in the bullpen of the best team in the National League. The only thing stopping him now is making room on the roster, which will apparently be done by trading Scott Eyre to whoever claims him off waivers. That seems like a massively inefficient way to do things, and Wood and Lou Piniella seem to agree. From the Sun-Times:

''That's something that's got to be figured out,'' Piniella said. ''It's not going to be easy.''

Wood said he's ready to go and lobbied for the chance to be activated Monday.

''It didn't work too well,'' he said. ''Hopefully, we can get it done here in the next couple of days.''

For his part, the story makes it sound like Wood's finger is ready to go and he'll be back in the closer's role after a stint or two in middle relief just to be sure. I can't figure out why they have to wait on moving Eyre when they could demote Sean Marshall or someone for a day or two until things get cleared up, but I don't understand a lot of what Jim Hendry does, beyond the fact that he seems to have found the magical threshold of money spent it takes to contend in the National League.

Lou Piniella is all kinds of awesome. He's cranky, old, unpredictable, and politically incorrect, kind of like your crazy but endearing grandpa or something. Of course he's not your grandpa (well, unless you're one of Lou Piniella's grandkids, I guess), but rather the manager of the Cubs, which makes things even more awesome. Today in an article about reliever Scott Eyre it's mentioned that Piniella doesn't even really know his name.

And if Piniella still has trouble remembering his name?

''I don't care. It's funny,'' said Eyre, who not only has heard Piniella pronounce his last name two different ways all season, but also has been referred to as ''Steve'' and ''Stevie'' in recent weeks.

''I hope he keeps calling me that,'' Eyre said, ''because Scott Eyre didn't pitch so good in the first half. Stevie's pitching good.''

There are two very real possibilities here. Either Pineilla just doesn't bother to learn his players' names or he's actually trying to piss Eyre off by calling him the wrong name (though I'd imagine if he were to do that he'd probably go more Dr. Cox style and call him "Sue" or something like that). I'm not sure which option amuses me more, actually. Lou Pineilla should just manage every team. I think the world would be a much happier place.

Kerry Wood is on the comeback trail yet again. He's currently in Arizona mowing hitters down in the rookie-level Arizona League and trying to make his way back into the Cubbies bullpen to strengthen it for a stretch run at the division leading Brewers. At least that's where Wood is at right now. Yesterday he told the Chicago Sun-Times that he almost didn't make it back at all:

''I felt bad for so long, I was at a point where I didn't know what to do next,'' he said Sunday. ''I decided to just go out and play catch one more time and see how it felt. To me, it was going to be the last time before I made a decision on if I was going to have another surgery or not.

''I threw, and it felt fine. So I came out the next day again, and it felt better. And I kept going from there.''

I know PostmanE says that Cubs' fans should ignore the rumblings that Wood will be back before the season ends and he's definitely right, but it says a lot about Wood that he's still trying to come back. He's barely thrown 200 big league innings since the end of the 2003 playoffs, but he's still trying. Plus, wouldn't he look a lot better out of the pen than Scott Eyre right now? Admit it, Cubs fans, you've thought about it.

Previously at FanHouse
Help! Injured Pitchers Are Under My Bed!

Right there in the middle of the fifth inning, as the Cubs/Braves game was coming back from commercial, Comcast Sportsnet showed a dugout fight between pitcher Carlos Zambrano, and his catcher Michael Barrett that must have occurred while the telecast was at a commercial break. (Update: Watch the video)

While it never came to actual punches landing, it was definitely one of the most heated on-field exchanges between teammates that I've ever seen. Zambrano was entering the dugout and pointing to his head, visibly upset. He started yelling and it seemed like he was cussing at Barrett (possibly over the pitches Barrett was calling). Barrett started to point towards the field (most likely at the scoreboard to show Zambrano up) while taking steps towards Zambrano. And as the announcers noted, the frustration completely boiled over when Zambrano pushed Barrett, who kept coming at Carlos. Barrett's back was turned to the camera as he approached Zambrano, so there's no way to tell if Barrett let out some cuss words that might have set Zambrano off.

There was a clear exchange of slaps and pushes, and if the players hadn't been pulled apart, punches could have been thrown (Zambrano's arm definitely looked cocked). At this point I'm still unclear as to what set the two off, but we do know that Zambrano was lit up for five runs on five hits (and one error) in the top of the fifth, and he obviously was not happy about it. The announcers are already noting that this story will take over headlines in the media, and be the subject of many future questions for the players and manager Lou Piniella to answer.

Meanwhile, Koyie Hill has entered the game as the catcher, and Scott Eyre has replaced Carlos Zambrano as the pitcher. Both Lou Piniella and pitching coach Larry Rothschild went into the clubhouse to attend to the matter. We'll have more details for you as they come in. Keep checking in for more updates. And I'll say this, the incident reminded me a lot of Barrett's exchange with A.J. Pierzynksi last year, only difference, these two are teammates, not opponents.

UPDATE: Commenters at Bleed Cubbie Blue think a passed ball and mix up over signs may have set things off (watch out for offensive language)

(Photo credit: Getty Images)