A lot of change in this Phillies team

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Jimmy Rollins, who has been a Phillie longer than any of them, plopped down on a chair in the clubhouse. The first Grapefruit League appearance of his 16th spring training was over, so Rollins turned his attention to the TV.

He watched Jonathan Papelbon pitch a 1-2-3 fifth against the Yankees. He saw Dontrelle Willis give up a fly ball that Juan Pierre couldn't quite get to. Scott Podsednik doubled. Laynce Nix drew a walk.

All familiar major-league names. Thing is, Rollins was watching the Phillies. In fact, the most notable non-Phillie was Raul Ibanez, Rollins' teammate for the past three years.

If spring training is a time for fresh hopes and new beginnings, it's also a reminder of passing time and the change it brings. It was strange to walk into Bright House Field and not see Jack O'Rourke, the KYW radio reporter who served as unofficial greeter here for so long. There was an empty booth and radio silence where Jack, who died last year, should have been.

The on-field change is nothing new in professional sports, of course. Teams evolve. Players are traded or leave via free agency. New names are stitched above familiar numbers. The first exhibition game is still jarring, though, as the on-paper roster moves of the offseason come to life in vivid red and white.

Or in Yankee blue. Ibanez admitted that the first time he looked down and saw the iconic Yankees logo on his chest, "It was a shock. It took some getting used to."

Jim Thome is a Phillie again, Ibanez is gone. A former Houston Astros reliever threw for the Phillies Saturday. It was Chad Qualls, not the departed Brad Lidge. The transformation of the lineup seemed even more dramatic without Chase Utley, Placido Polanco and the injured Ryan Howard.

Ibanez is a walking illustration of how long the Phillies' run of success has lasted. Players have now joined the team since the 2008 championship, had respectable tours of duty, been fan favorites, and moved on.

Just eight players remain from the group that mobbed Lidge at Citizens Bank Park on Oct. 30, 2008. So it is two-thirds of a different team that will try to continue this run and capture the era's second championship.

Hope is high again, as it should be. But it will be a very different team, with different chemistry, that takes the field in Pittsburgh on April 5.

So this stretch in Clearwater is about more than pitchers getting stretched out and hitters getting their timing down.

"This is where we get to have fun and bond with all of our teammates before we go up and things start to count," Cole Hamels said.

Hamels said it was "a bummer" not to have Ibanez around: "He's one of the best teammates we've had," he said. It is one thing to replace Ibanez's bat in the lineup, another to replace his personality in the clubhouse.

In his first at-bat as a Yankee, Ibanez came in spikes-high to beat a throw to second. An inning later, newish Phillies rightfielder Hunter Pence dove for a shallow fly ball that got swept away by the wind. So the ledger was balanced when it came to guys playing a Grapefruit League game as if first place were on the line.

Papelbon has had a lot of success in his career. He's pitched in big games. But will he mesh with his new teammates as well as Lidge and Ryan Madson? How will Nix, Pierre, and Ty Wigginton handle the roles they wind up playing on this team?

"It takes a while," manager Charlie Manuel said. "Usually you go deep into spring before you see who fits on your team. We've got some guys with experience and some guys who can help us. As far as our team coming together, it takes a while to feel comfortable."

It is an underrated part of Manuel's job to monitor that. This is a team with a winning culture, with established leaders like Rollins and Utley and Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. They will be the first to know if someone doesn't go about his business properly.

"You talk to guys every day, communicate with them," Manuel said. "And seeing them play is the big thing."

That's what these games are all about. The big pieces - including Howard, the Big Piece - are in place. But how will the others fit around them? Can Pierre and Podsednik - who already approach hitting the way Manuel is encouraging his players to try - earn roster spots? Can Dom Brown earn his way back to the big club? Can Willis, once a marquee starter, be a situational reliever? What does Thome have left?

It all started Saturday with this spring ritual that is both timeless and a nudge from passing time itself.