Day 4: Marlins | Extra Innings

JUPITER, Fla. – Four months later, the momentous memories of that evening remain fresh. Josh Beckett pitching in New York, pitching in the Stadium, pitching into history – a five-hit shutout that closed down the vaunted Yankees, closed out of the World Series and turned a 23-year-old Texan into a baseball megastar.

The pitching performance will go among the greatest in Series history, shoving Beckett into the rarified air of Bob Gibson, Jack Morris, Bret Saberhagen and even Don Larsen. It also set the right-hander into a wild offseason where he was stopped in airports by fans, toured the White House and wound up on the Jay Leno and Craig Kilborn shows.

"I actually still talk to Kilborn every once in a while on the phone and he's always teasing me, World Series MVP is over, man, it's over,' " Beckett said. "And it is. We have to move on [because] 2004 is a new season."

That was the theme of Beckett's comments on Wednesday at Florida Marlins camp here on

Day 3: Orioles | Extra Innings

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – In case you missed it – and amid Alex Rodriguez updates, Curt Schilling press conferences and breathless Red Sox-Yankees coverage we fully expect you may have – the Baltimore Orioles made a few moves in the offseason, too.

Such as bringing in power-hitting, defensively gifted shortstop Miguel Tejada from the Oakland Athletics. Not to mention catcher Javy Lopez, who hit .328 with 43 homers and 109 RBI last year for the Atlanta Braves. And, oh yes, they also got ace pitcher Sidney Ponson, veteran slugger Rafael Palmeiro and new manager Lee Mazzilli, fresh off the New York Yankees' bench.

Yet all the talk and all the hype is about those other two American League East teams and the moves they made this winter. As much as Baltimore did to improve itself, New York and the Boston Red Sox did that much more.

Which could be frustrating – if anyone here at Orioles Spring Training cared.

"We don't give two [hoots] about that," first baseman

Day 3: Orioles | Extra Innings

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Growing up in Bani in the Dominican Republic, Miguel Tejada's two favorite players – the shortstops he imitated on his country's hardscrabble ball fields – were Alfredo Griffin and Cal Ripken. He worshipped them the way kids around the world now worship him, the 2002 AL MVP.

Griffin played 18 seasons with four teams. Ripken, however, spent his entire career with one, basically becoming the heart, soul and face of the Baltimore Orioles. When Tejada became a free agent this winter, he was still interested in following his idol's lead and took a big interest in Baltimore.

"To be in a group with Cal Ripken is a dream come true," Tejada said. "It is not about money. It is all about how I am feeling. I feel I am going to be happy in this organization because now I will be seeing Cal Ripken more often. I have chance to ask how he do it to make all those plays, how he did it to play all those games."

Tough break for Cleveland, Toronto,

Day 2: Dodgers | Extra Innings

VERO BEACH, Fla. – He's a reformed hockey goon – "How do you win a hockey fight? Hit the other person first."

He prefers sideburns, a ratty baseball cap and big prescription goggles. He enters games to Guns N' Roses, music signaling that opponents soon will exit with a loss. He hasn't blown a save since 2002 and won the Cy Young Award despite being a reliever, yet he still acts like a humble rookie sometimes.

Like, say, when he reported to Dodgertown here Monday for the start of training camp and found a new worker guarding the players' parking lot.

"Hi, I'm Eric," the superstar multi-millionaire said.

"Hi, I'm Vinny," the parking attendant said.

Eric Gagne isn't just the best thing Canada has sent to L.A. since Gretzky (well, excluding Pam Anderson, of course). He simply is one of the best things going in the majors.

He's a breath of fresh air in an era of quarter-billion dollar contracts and BALCO depositions. He's a baseball player with a hockey

Day 2: Dodgers | Extra Innings

VERO BEACH, Fla. – The streets are named after Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson and similar legends. There are trees and shade and a ballpark with an open dugout – softball league-style – so the fans from any seat can see the players.

There is a pool, tennis and shuffleboard courts, beach volleyball and housing suites on campus, not to mention acres of lush playing fields. Signs are shaped like baseballs and even the faucets and flushers in the bathroom have the Dodgers' logo on them.

Welcome to Dodgertown, the oldest and, at least according to Baseball America, the best Spring Training facility in the game.

"You're asking me about my love," said Dodgers vice president Tommy Lasorda, who has come here every spring since 1949 as a player, manager or team executive. "I love it very, very much. This is the greatest Spring Training complex in all the world."

It was once a military base. The Dodgers started coming here in 1948 when they still called

Day 1: Astros | Extra Innings

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The first time they met, in 1995, Andy Pettitte was a young kid from Houston who had just made the Yankees' rotation. Roger Clemens was a superstar from Houston who was the ace of the Red Sox.

So when Pettitte approached Clemens as The Rocket ran pregame wind sprints in center field at Fenway Park, he did it with the expected nervousness of someone meeting an idol. And Clemens reacted as a Red Sox player would to a Yankee. He was short with Pettitte.

Clemens told Pettitte he knew who he was, knew he was from Houston and wished him well, but that was that. Conversation over. It was disarming. Pettitte disavowed himself from the Clemens fan club.

"Hey, I didn't want to get fined $500 in a kangaroo court [for talking to an opponent]," Clemens said Sunday with a laugh.

There were plenty of reasons to laugh and smile here in central Florida on Sunday as pitchers (including the newly acquired Pettitte and Clemens) and catchers reported to

Day 1: Astros | Extra Innings

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – You are Jimy Williams and you have what can only be categorized as a no-lose decision concerning your Opening Day pitcher.

Do you, the Houston Astros manager, hand the ball over to Andy Pettitte, a 21-game winner last year with the Yankees and hometown kid-come-home? Or do you go with Roger Clemens, the 300-win future Hall of Famer who came out of retirement (albeit a brief one) to pitch for his hometown team?

Who's it going to be?

"Roy Oswalt," Williams said Sunday as pitchers and catchers reported here to Astros camp.

Roy who?

Roy Oswalt, a 26-year-old righty from little Kosciusko, Miss., who went 10-5 with a 2.97 ERA for the Astros last season. Get to know him because he'll be on the hill April 5 in Minute Maid Park. Due to the off-season signings of Pettitte and Clemens, it may rank as the most anticipated Houston Opening Day ever.

Williams is going with Oswalt because of what he did a year ago. Despite three trips to the disabled

ORLANDO, Fla. – You can make the argument, as many have, that last October was the greatest, most dramatic and most thrilling postseason in Major League Baseball history.

You also could argue that there never has been an offseason – from the arms race in the AL East to the bulging arms of BALCO Labs – like the one we just witnessed.

So what is baseball going to do for an encore?

We plan on trying to find out.

Over the next week Yahoo! Sports will embark on every baseball lover's spring dream, a six-day, six-city, six-team barnstorm through the Grapefruit League of Florida. And just because we can, we even bilked the Yahoo! expense account for a convertible.

All so we can best serve you, the valued reader.

We'll start Monday in Kissimmee, Fla., where Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens have reunited (after a very brief separation) with their hometown Houston Astros. We'll head to Dodgertown on Tuesday, check in with the pigeon-holed Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday and hit the defending