While the Mets and Phillies are engaged in their annual pissing contest over who’s the best in the NL East, Johnny Damon predicted his own early season success today:

“I’m ready to go out there and prove to everyone that I’m still a pretty good player. I’ve been pretty consistent over my career. But when you talk about good players in the league my name hardly comes up and I don‘t think that’s right. I need to go out there and show them.”

Peter Abraham notes that Damon looks like he’s in great shape. This is, needless to say, great news for Yankee fans. Damon got off to a terrible start last season and didn’t really hit his stride until August when his nagging injuries cleared up.

Meanwhile, over the last few seasons, the Yanks have started the year 9-14 (2007), 13-10 (2006), 10-14 (2005) and 12-11 (2004). If they could get out to a fast start, the team’s winning ways would take some pressure off the pitching. Make no mistake about it; Johnny Damon atop the Yankee lineup will be a major factor in that potential success.

Update: Patrick talked to PeteAbe, who said that the no-hair-below-the-lip policy remains in place.

A story making its rounds in the mainstream media today is Joe Girardi’s list of rules. I’m not sure if these are just for Spring Training or if they’ll extend into the season. There are 17 total, and RAB goat Wallace Matthews got his hands on nine:

1. Be on time. No excuse for lateness.

2. Shorts and T-shirts only permitted during spring training.

3. Curfew of 1 a.m.

4. Jewelry - only one chain is permitted. No earrings.

5. Only neatly cut beards, mustaches, goatees. No long hair or “unshaven looks.”

6. No family members in the clubhouse until after games.

7. No cell phones in the dugout.

8. Cell phones only allowed in the clubhouse until one hour before games.

9. No competing speakers in the clubhouse.

No. 2 makes it seem like these are the Girardi rules. No. 5, then, looks like it supersedes King George’s Law.

No. 7 should be fairly obvious…

It’s October. The Yankees lose a stunner to the Indians when former Manager Joe Torre fails to get his team off the field in the face of a Biblical plague of blood. Fade out on the season.

Except this is New York, and while the Giants won the Super Bowl, while the Knicks are epically bad, we never really fade out on the season. After the Yanks’ last game in October, Joe Torre left as manager and A-Rod opted out of his contract. Then, the World Series ended.

A-Rod came back. The Yanks re-signed Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera. They almost traded for Johan Santana, and then, they didn’t. The Mitchell Report hit, and we’ve been inundated with steroid news for the last two months. Now, Andy Pettitte, who hopefully won’t retire, won’t report to Spring Training until Monday.

Meanwhile, on the blog, we debated A-Rod, replacement third basemen, Johan Santana, Joba’s role and the future of Melky Cabrera. We saved the Big Three and had our biggest day for traffic during the cold days of December.

And here we are on February 14, and the countdown on the right just hit 0. I used to say forget Opening Day; life can begin again when pitchers and catchers report. But this year, baseball season never ended. It’s just a circle that keeps on going.

For a few minutes, we can forget about steroids. We can forget about yesterday’s circus or tomorrow’s hordes of reporters. We can forget about bullpen make-ups and starting pitchers on pitch counts and innings limits.

For a few minutes, we can remember opening day — six weeks away. We can remember the joys of a nine-inning baseball game on a warm summer night. We can remember the thrill of a pennant race and the tenseness that surrounds a pivotal three-game series when the Red Sox come to town. We can remember the electric air of Yankee Stadium in October (and forget that this is the Stadium’s last year).

We can remember this and smile because today, the action moves on the field, for today pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. And everything is good again.

Virginia Tech released information about the ticket plan for the March 18 exhibition game between the Yankees and VT baseball team. As expected, the event is closed to the general public with 3000 tickets set aside for those VT students enrolled on April 16, 2007, 1000 reserved for VT faculty and the rest for those affected by the shootings. The game may also be telecast in the mid-Atlantic region.

The last time Lower Manhattan witnessed a ticker tape parade, it was a different era. Bill Clinton was closing out his presidency, and in the buildup to a hotly-contested election, the Yankees had just beaten the Mets in a Subway Series. The parade through the Canyon of Heroes ran in the shadows of the city’s tallest buildings.

Now, here we are in 2008 and finally — finally — another parade. Yet again, we’re on the precipice of an election day — and if you live in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or any other Super Tuesday state, go vote. The towers are gone, but the spirit of the city will be out in full force later today when Eli Manning, David Tyree, Plaxico Burress, Justin Tuck, Amani Toomer, Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and the rest of the Giants will nail Tom Brady for a decisive ten-yard sack bask in the glow of an unlikely Super Bowl win.

Once the parade ends and after the Giants receive their praise from the lips of Mayor and potential presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, New York’s attention will turn to baseball. Forget the Rangers and the 14-34 Knicks. In nine days, pitchers and catchers officially report to Tampa. Most of them are already enjoying the Florida sun, and a lot of the Yankee youngsters have taken three bullpen sessions. But still we fixate on Feb. 14 when life starts the six-week march to its rebirth on Opening Day.

And that, my friends, is where you come in. With ten days to go before camp opens and a few more weeks before the games begin, the baseball news cycle is drawing to a close. A whole group of mediocre free agents and Barry Bonds remain unsigned, but after the Eric Bedard trade is mercifully completed tomorrow and Brian Roberts heads to Chicago this weekend, the wheeling and dealing will be through. That still leaves us with some time before we start obsessing over every move Joe Girardi makes and bemoaning Kyle Farnsworth’s very existence.

So here’s my challenge: Throw out some ideas of what you would like to see as season preview material here on RAB. We could do the ever-clichéd position-by-position analysis, but we already know the Yankees’ areas of concern — young pitchers, bullpen, first base. We’ve been tossing around a few ideas but give us yours. It’s all about that give-and-take.

The Yanks announced that they’ve invited a small army of non-roster players to Spring Training. The breakdown:

IF: Bernie Castro, Eric Duncan, Nick Green, Cody Ransom, Marcos Vechionacci
OF: Justin Christian, Colin Curtis, Brett Gardner, Austin Jackson, Jason Lane, Greg Porter, Jose Tabata
C: Kyle Anson, Jason Brown, Jesus Montero, PJ Pilittere, Austin Romine
RHP: Dan Giese, Alan Horne, Steven Jackson, Dan McCutchen, Mark Melancon, Darrell Rasner, Scott Strickland
LHP: Heath Phillips, Billy Traber

Wow, you think the Yanks like Austin Romine just a bit? I can’t remember the last time they invited a HS draftee to ST the year after he was drafted; maybe Eric Duncan? I don’t think this is a case of simply needing some catcher to catch all these pitchers, the Yanks have a ton of guys older and more experienced than Romine at their disposal to do that. Hopefully he stations himself directly between Jorge and Tony Pena at all times.

Jon Albaledjo, Jeff Marquez, Scott Patterson, Steven White, Juan Miranda and Frankie Cervelli will also be with the big boys during ST, by virtue of holding down a 40-man roster spot. If I was Kevin Whelan, I’d feel a bit snubbed. Just about all of the pitchers listed - Mark Melancon being the exception - will compete with the likes of Edwar, Ohlendorf, Bruney, Britton, Henn, etc. for a big league bullpen spot. Whoever pitches the best will get it. My dark horse? Steven Jackson.

From the Canadian Press. Why they’re writing about the Yankees in January, I don’t know.

“I try to avoid the rumours best I can, but you eventually here it from friends, family and the whole deal,” Hughes said after working out Friday at the Yankees’ minor league complex. “You never want to hear your name out there, but on the other side, at least it’s good to know that other teams think highly of you. I wouldn’t say tough winter, but definitely an interesting one.”

That’s right; Phil Hughes is already in Florida working out at the Yankees’ minor league complex. That’s devotion, dedication and drive any Yankee fan has to love. The Press notes that Hughes wants to work off a mound before Feb. 14 and wants to get in “four or five bullpens.” And that is just one of the reasons why we love Phil Hughes.

January 11 is a rather important date for New Yorkers. First, at 10 a.m., Yankee Spring Training tickets go on sale. If you want home-game tickets to any Legends Field game, you better be ready to go at 10 a.m. Eastern on Friday morning. Those things sell out in a flash.

Second, no matter your party affiliation or candidate choice, January 11 is the postmark date for people registering for the primary elections in the State of New York. If you’re 18 or older and live in New York State, please register. New York primaries are on February 5.