Sports Illustrated has named the Washington Nationals this year's World Series favorite and has placed their star pitcher on one of six regional covers. With that I suppose that means Stephen Strasburg's arm will fall off by mid-June and Bryce Harper will be suspended for bumping in to an umpire at some point and Jayson Werth's hair will start falling out by September.

Via @SINow

Mr. October, huh? Seems kind of sacrilegious to use one of baseball's best nicknames for a Hall of Famer like Reggie Jackson and placing it on a pitcher who could not even pitch in his first possible postseason because the management of the team decided to shut him down for the sake of 2017.

Shortly after the Phillies dropped their spring training opener to the Houston Astros, 8-3, word broke that the first roster change of the year had been executed. The Phillies traded relief pitcher Michael Schwimer to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for first base prospect Art Charles. Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly was the first to officially report the move on Twitter.

Schwimer to Jays for 1b Art Charles. Minor leaguer.

— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyCSN) February 23, 2013

It's time once again to take a crack at predicting the Opening Day lineup for the Philadelphia Phillies. We will be doing this every Friday leading up to the start of the 2013 season, with notes and explanations for changes in the logic being used for this.

As previously noted in my initial prediction, the following remains true:

Carlos Ruiz will be serving a 25-game suspension to start the season, so Erik Kratz is the best bet to get the start behind home plate.

Jimmy Rollins remains the solid bet to lead off and play short, as he has done regularly for years.

Cole Hamels remains our favorite to get the Opening Day start on the road in Atlanta, with Roy Halladay being slated for the home opener in Citizens Bank Park.

Since last week, these developments have caused some changes in my official prediction:

Just hours after posting the initial lineup prediction last week news broke that outfielder Delmon Young will be likely to begin the season on the disabled list. This will take Young out of my opening day lineup and leave a spot open for Domonic Brown and Darin Ruf for your corner outfield positions. We'll stick with these young bats for now until something else changes.

Latest Opening Day Lineup Prediction

• SS Jimmy Rollins
• CF Ben Revere
• 2B Chase Utley
• 1B Ryan Howard
• LF Darin Ruf
• 3B Michael Young
• RF Domonic Brown
• C Erik Kratz
• SP Cole Hamels

ESPN will broadcast three Philadelphia Phillies spring training games as part of its programming schedule next month. The Phillies will be one of five teams with multiple appearances on the worldwide leader, and the games will also be available on ESPN's streaming outlet, Watch ESPN.

Former Phillies player John Kruk - a favorite of Macho Row of course - will be a part of ESPN's new Sunday Night Baseball team alongside play-by-play voice Dan Shulman and analyst Orel Hershiser along with field reporter Buster Olney. This team will call make their spring debut with the Phillies spring training game on March 18 against the Atlanta Braves. They will also call the Phillies game the next day against the New York Yankees.

The spring games appearing on ESPN this spring are as follows:

• March 18: Phillies @ Braves, 1 p.m.
• March 19: Phillies vs. Yankees, 1 p.m.
• March 26: Phillies @ Tigers (Karl Ravech, Barry Larkin, Doug Glanville)

Here is the complete Phillies spring training schedule. Earlier this month CSN Philly shared the local broadcast schedule. In all a total of 18 games will be available on TV in the Philadelphia market between local and national coverage (the March 19 game against the Yankees will be aired locally and nationally).

Outfield assist from Fang's Bites.

Looking to follow your favorite Philadelphia Phillies player on Twitter? Avoid the fake accounts!

Below I have put together a list of current Philadelphia Phillies players on Twitter. This list will be updated as needed, and feel free to keep this chart in check by sending any that are left out or inaccurate. Send a tweet to @Macho_Row or use the contact page to send any recommendations or fixes.

Fans of the Philadelphia Phillies do not need to look far to get coverage of their favorite baseball team. There are plenty of options to feed your appetite for Phillies coverage from the area's top media outlets. Heck, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer each have two reporters assigned to covering the Phillies once again this season.

In the chart below you will see ten of the top beat reporters and columnists covering the Phillies in the 2013 season. Soon I will have a chart to help map out your Phillies coverage in the blogosphere, which can be a bit overwhelming at times if you are just getting started with checking out all that there is to offer.

The Philadelphia Phillies open up the Grapefruit League schedule this week, and that should serve as a nice reminder that baseball is not that far away. Todd Zolecki has posted the pitching schedule for the first week's worth of games on his MLB.com blog. Perhaps most notable is the news that Cole Hamels will take the first official start of the spring on Saturday against the Houston Astros, with Roy Halladay tabbed for the Sunday start against the Detroit Tigers.

Much has been made recently about who should get the Opening Day assignment for the Phillies. Not that we want to judge too much on the first spring training games of the year, but it would seem to suggest that Hamels will be the Opening Day starter for the Phillies for the first time in his career.

Hamels as the Opening Day starter is a move I have long endorsed based off of last season and Hamels' place in the franchise's history. We'll see if that turns out to be the case in due time.

Check out the full pitching schedule reported by Zolecki.

Instead of a morning round-up of links today I thought it would be fun to take a look at the projected Opening Day lineup for the 2013 Phillies.

A few things to keep in mind when putting this together:

Remember that catcher Carlos Ruiz will be serving a 25-game suspension. This makes Erik Kratz the most likely candidate to receive the opening day job behind the plate.

I believe Charlie Manuel is a creature of habit. As much as fans will discuss the idea of moving Jimmy Rollins out of the lead off spot, I cannot envision Manuel doing that, especially for opening day. Also there is little reason to expect Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to be removed from their normal spots in the lineup.

Darin Ruf may very well win a roster spot when the team comes north but for now I'm rolling with newly acquired outfielder Delmon Young to be named an opening day starter in left field. Right now I'll take a stab at Domonic Brown backing up his strong statements just enough to get the nod in right field for opening day.

I also buy in to the concept that would see Cole Hamels get the Opening Day assignment on the mound after being the top pitcher in the rotation last year, which lines up Roy Halladay for the home opener in Philadelphia. For the time being, that is why I will have Hamels penciled in at the bottom of my Opening Day lineup.

Without any further ado, here is my first guess at the Opening Day lineup. Feel free to critique and over-analyze away, and let me know why I'm right or wrong in the comment section below.

1. SS Jimmy Rollins
2. CF Ben Revere
3. 2B Chase Utley
4. 1B Ryan Howard
5. LF Delmon Young
6. 3B Michael Young
7. RF Domonic Brown
8. C Erik Kratz
9. SP Cole Hamels

Roy Halladay says he is feeling good and he cannot envision playing in any other city. That sounds like good news for Phillies fans, right? Halladay is entering the final year of his contract in Philadelphia and it will be a critical one. Halladay statistically has been on the decline since his arrival in Philadelphia in 2010 and he was worn down a little bit last season. He is still the workhorse of the staff in many respects but with velocity dropping there is reason to be concerned. Hey, he's still a very good pitcher. Nobody is saying he is not. But it is no secret that he needs to change part of his approach on the mound. He's smart enough to know that it sounds like, so that is a positive sign.

Doc confident he can rebound with healthy season - Todd Zolecki, MLB.com

Roy Halladay hopes for healthy, effective 2013 - Jim Salisbury, CSNPhilly.com

Roy Halladay confident back, shoulder injuries in past - Matt Gelb, Philly.com

Roy Halladay says he will pitch 320 innings if it means winning a World Series - David Murphy, Philly.com

Health, age force ace veteran Halladay to adjust - Hal Bodley, MLB.com

A defining year awaits Roy Halladay - Jayson Stark, ESPN.com

Ruiz apologizes

All too often in sports we see stories of athletes shrugging aside their problems. That was not the case with Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz on Wednesday. Meeting with the media for the first time since receiving a 25-game suspension, Ruiz apologized publicly to his teammates and the fans for putting himself in the situation. Apparently it got a little emotional for the Phillies catcher. It's OK Chooch. Just don't let it happen again. Your fans will forgive you (surely many already have).

According to Topps baseball cards this year the all time record holder for most base hits in baseball is simply known as "all-time record holder." Or at least that is likely how Pete Rose would be listed on the back of a baseball card printed today.

As Chicago Side Sports points out, the baseball card company is not using Pete Rose by name on their baseball cards, but they will use the names of other players who own records. Was this an error? Something that slipped through the cracks? Does somebody at Topps have it out for Rose, who continues to try and wiggle his way back in to the good graces of Major League Baseball?

Not quite.

The reason may be fairly simple. It all comes down to - what else - money.