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The Flyers can’t stay on the road forever. Ilya Bryzgalov must come back to Philadelphia, where he was booed lustily during his last home game.

The Flyers’ hopes for success in the playoffs are dependent on Bryzgalov. Teams can’t overcome a bad goal or two very often during the postseason. In an effort to improve the relationship between the sensitive goalie and the team’s fans, I’ve written the following letter on behalf of Flyers fans. Hope you don’t mind.
Dear Ilya,

We love you. We really do.

We know sometimes we have a weird way of showing our love. And sometimes we forget that boos can hurt. But you have to understand where we’re coming from.

We’ve had many bad relationships with goalies. Did we ever tell you about Roman Cechmanek? He was as goofy as you are … but not nearly as funny and charming!

We’re not going to name all the goalies we’ve invested our time and money in who haven’t worked out. We know you don’t want to hear about all of our bad relationships. Plus, it’s too painful for us to discuss all of them.

But it’s been a revolving door for more than 20 years. We want that revolving door to stop spinning. We want a long-term relationship with one goalie.

Ilya, that goalie is you.

We want to make this relationship work. We know you want it to work, too. So here are some ideas to help you find peace in your soul and improve our relationship.

The first step is to spend a little time apart. We’ve already done that with your little road trip through Western Canada and California. The time apart has helped. The longer you’ve been away, the more you seem at peace. You were darn good against the Oilers and Sharks. You were also terrific during the shootout at Calgary. We knew you could do it!

The next step is for you to be a little less open about your feelings. Usually, we have the opposite problem with our relationships. People shut us out from their true feelings. But, Ilya, you are an open book.

We love your openness. We don’t want you to change the way you feel. But you don’t have to tell us every emotion that you’re feeling. It might be better for all of us if sometimes you keep your feelings to yourself. Not all the time. Just some of the time. Please.

And please don’t tell us we care too much. If we didn’t care so much, you wouldn’t be making so much money. Maybe we can try to express how much we care in a more constructive fashion, but we’ll never stop caring, so don’t tell us we care too much. Even if you believe it’s true, that’s one of those opinions you should keep to yourself.

Here’s another suggestion: change your middle name to “Bruce.” No, Bruce isn’t a Russian name. But if you change your name, when we boo you – sorry, if we boo you – in the future, you can pretend we’re chanting your name. Go to one of the upcoming Bruce Springsteen concerts in Philly. You’ll hear the crowd yelling, “Bruuuuuuuuuce!” When you hear people boo, just pretend it’s done out of love. (Kind of like you pretended the Winnipeg crowd was chanting “Ilya” because they like you instead of because they were mocking you.)

Ilya, we know you love history. Well, we’ve got a lot of history with goalies. Not all of it is bad, so you can forget all that stuff you’ve heard about our goalies being cursed.

And guess what? Some of the goalies we love aren’t exactly normal. Kind of like you.

As you saw at the Winter Classic Alumni Game, our love affair with Bernie Parent continues. Don’t be jealous. We’ve got plenty of love to go around.

Our point is that Bernie is a little … unusual. Have you talked to Bernie? Wonderful guy. Always smiling. But watch that HBO special on the Broad Street Bullies from two years ago. Bernie talks about taking afternoon naps with his dog and how much he loves The Three Stooges. One of the Stooges is from Philadelphia. Did you know that? Anyway, Bobby Taylor, Bernie’s backup, talks about Bernie loving to sniff new shoes – other people’s new shoes.

None of those things bother us. You know why? Because Bernie won the Stanley Cup.

Ron Hextall didn’t win a Stanley Cup, but we still love him. And he’s CRAZY! Seriously. Watch some old film of Hexy. He’s nuts, but he wore his heart on his sleeve – not literally; that’s an American expression – and we loved him for it.

Don’t get the wrong idea. We don’t want you to try to be Bernie or Hexy. We want you to be yourself. But what we want you to see is that, like Bernie and Hexy, if you build a successful relationship with us, you could be “humangous big” in this city for the rest of your life. Ask Bernie when was the last time he paid for a meal or drink.

Ilya, there’s one more thing we want you to do. We saved it for last because it’s the most important thing: STOP THE DAMN PUCK!!!

If you stop the puck, everything else will take care of itself. Not only will you find the peace in your soul to play in this city, you will find the peace to live here. Forever.

Hopes this letter helps. We write because we care.

Love,

Flyers fans

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Perhaps the biggest question mark during spring training is the amount of time Ryan Howard still needs before he can reclaim his spot in the Phillies’ lineup.

Howard is recovering from October surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon, suffered on the Phils’ last play of 2011. The news out of Clearwater this week is the debate over whether or not Howard has suffered a setback in his recovery.

Over the weekend, manager Charlie Manuel termed Howard’s seroma – which is a post-surgical fluid buildup – a setback. GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. was quick to deny that “setback” was a good choice of words, while trainer Scott Sheridan gave a more clinical explanation, discussing how this is an open wound near the surgical sutures, that Howard had a prior scheduled appointment with the surgeon, Dr. Mark Myerson in Baltimore, so before Howard gets too far into spring training activities, all agree that it’s a good time to check on it and deal with it.

According to the medical literature, seromas are fairly common after surgery – especially if the patient is particularly active immediately after the surgery – and generally go away with draining as an intervention. The fact that this seroma is being described as an open wound is somewhat unusual and concerning. It is possible that if the seroma recurs even after draining, a device may have to be inserted that would take Howard away from baseball activities for a period of time. Speculation would be that if this seroma is persistent, dealing with it in an aggressive manner would probably add 2-3 weeks to Howard’s timetable. At that point, the term setback would definitely be appropriate.

For now, all we can do is wait, watch and report. This is a serious injury. Let’s try not to think in terms of Angels 1B Kendrys Morales, who broke his leg in a walk-off home run celebration on May 29, 2010, not only missing the rest the 2010 season, but suffering a series of complications that have kept him off the field ever since.

With Howard out, who bats cleanup? The Phillies’ lineup in general is going to be the subject of much speculation until things get settled – which may not happen until June or even later.

One key question is whether Chase Utley is the best choice to bat third. Amaro has already said that Utley is not the power hitter he was before his knee condition surfaced. 30 home runs would be pretty much out of the question for Utley, who hit 11 in 103 games in 2011 after hitting 16 in 115 games in 2010. Even 20 homers for Utley may be a reach, whose slugging percentage has declined each year since 2007 (from .566 to .425) and whose batting average has likewise trended down each year as well (from .332 to .259).

Those are not numbers reflective of a prototypical #3 hitter.

Then there’s the matter of splitting up the lefties, Utley and Howard, once Howard returns. Then there’s the matter of whether Hunter Pence is best suited to hit third – but then who bats fifth and protects Howard in the lineup? Pence is likely better in that role than Shane Victorino or the John Mayberry and Laynce Nix combo, who will probably hit 6th and 7th, respectively. That also presumes Placido Polanco returns to hit .300 hitting form to make sense at #2 – if not, Utley or Victorino may have to move up to #2 and Polanco may find himself hitting 7th like he did late last season.

If the old lineup of Jimmy Rollins, Polanco, Utley, Howard, Pence, Victorino, Mayberry/Nix and Carlos Ruiz is the one Charlie Manuel prefers, then there’s a school of thought that it’s best to simply insert Howard’s replacement (Ty Wigginton, Jim Thome or Mayberry/Nix) in the cleanup spot, to avoid disruption in multiple places in the lineup – especially since all four replacements have significant power.

Stay tuned as Manuel puts the Phillies’ lineup puzzle together without the Big Piece.

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And finally, more on the medical front: Placido Polanco, recovering from sports hernia surgery, says he’s not limited in any way. Cliff Lee reported some abdominal soreness, but felt fine after a bullpen session. Jose Contreras, recovering from Tommy John surgery at age 40, threw a bullpen session Monday and is on track to see action in spring training games. Meanwhile, Justin De Fratus, a longshot to make the Phillies out of camp, but a guy who may factor in the bullpen later this season or in 2013, was shut down due to soreness in his pitching elbow.

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The Phillies get some game action for the first time on Wednesday, hosting the Florida State Seminoles, then begin a 3-game set with the Yankees over the weekend. We’ll assess some of the early games when we rejoin you on Phillies Notebook in a little over a week.

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