Can you feel it? Opening day is days away and the 2007 season will soon be upon us...and it's about time!

To get you a little more amped up, here are some links from around the web to get you up to speed. First off, the roster is set.

Josh Phelps has made the team as a first baseman over challenger Andy Phillips, while Wil Nieves will serve as the club's backup catcher, beating out non-roster invitee Todd Pratt. Left-hander Sean Henn has also made the roster after a strong spring.
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Monday vs. TB: Carl Pavano
Wednesday vs. TB: Andy Pettitte
Thursday vs. TB: Mike Mussina
Friday vs. BAL: Kei Igawa
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Chien-Ming Wang threw a half-mound bullpen session and said he felt even better than expected.

I'm glad that Villone is not on the team. He might be able to make it back at some point but he just looked awful in spring training and the Yankees just had a better option. Villone was signed to a minor league deal so he could either choose to become a free agent or take a demotion to the minors and try to work out his stuff there. At this point, either of those scenarios seem plausible.

Tyler Kepner of the NY Times checks in with the news that Phelps has been so good that he's got Joe thinking using him as the left-hander portion of a platoon with Doug Mientkiewicz. The following from the post also struck me as worth noting:

Phillips had a typically classy reaction when Torre told him he had lost out to Phelps. “It was tough,” Torre said. “He thanked us. In fact, the last thing he said to me was, he wanted to know if Phelps knew, because he wanted to congratulate him.

Andy seems like such a stand-up guy and after all the family issues that he had to go through last year and this spring, I hope that he gets picked up by another team and he gets to show what he can do. I wish him and his family nothing but the best.

Finally, SG, of RLYW fame, guests over at The Hardball Times and looks at the most important 5 questions facing the Yankees as they start the season while EJ Fagan over at Pending Pinstripes writes a preview of this years Trenton Thunder (AA) team.