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For the first time in 14 years, the Phillies are defending their National League East crown. Before they make good on Jimmy Rollins' projection of 100 wins, this team has to answer some pitching questions, most notably starting pitching.

After Brett Myers and Cole Hamels, can Jamie Moyer, 45, last another season? Can Kyle Kendrick overcome his spring struggles? How long will Adam Eaton last as the fifth guy? How about Kris Benson or one of the kids: Carlos Carrasco, Joe Outman or Drew Carpenter?

Even if it's not 75 and sunny, Opening Day is about the renewal of hope. Every team can dream of the postseason, even the Phillies opponent today. The Nationals, in case you missed it, lead the National League East after last night's dramatic win over the Braves. You can't get to 100 until you get No. 1.

Charlie Manuel decided to go with Jayson Werth in right. Here are the two lineups:

Nationals
1. Cristian Guzman ss; 2. Lastings Milledge cf; 3. Ryan Zimmerman 3b; 4. Nick Johnson 1b; 5. Austin Kearns rf; 6. Paul Lo Duca c; 7. Ronnie Belliard 2b; 8. Willie Harris lf; 9. Matt Chico lhp

Phillies
1. Jimmy Rollins ss, 2. Shane Victorino cf; 3. Chase Utley 2b; 4. Ryan Howard 1b; 5. Pat Burrell lf; 6. Pedro Feliz 3b; 7. Jayson Werth rf; 8. Carlos Ruiz c; 9 Brett Myers rhp

Lo Duca (11-for-34, .324, 2 HRs) and Zimmerman (9-for-20, .450, 11 RBI) have had the most success against Myers with Nick Johnson (.158, 8 Ks in 19 ABs) struggling the most.

Chico, in his second season, was 1-0 in two starts against the Phils last year. He threw a scare into the club and its fans when he beat the Phillies on Sept. 29 to put the Phils back into a tie for the NL East Division. Geoff Jenkins, who is not in the lineup today, is the only Phillies hitter to homer off Chico.

PA announcer Dan Baker introduced the Phillies roster and Adam Eaton received a round of boos. Eaton, who struggled in the spring after a dismal 2007, doffed his cap anyhow. He knows the heat's on.

The usual suspects received the loudest ovations, including the first "MVP" chant when Jimmy Rollins was called.

It's still overcast down here in South Philly and a little raw. At least the rain has subsided and there's not much wind to speak of, either.

As we wait for the first pitch, a little trivia: Pat Burrell is about to make his eighth opening-day start in leftfield. Who was the last Phillies' opening-day leftfielder prior to Burrell?

Answer will come after Burrell's at-bat.

Myers started the season off with a ball high to Cristian Guzman. After that, though, he was strong. Myers retired the Nats in order on 13 pitches, 10 strikes.

Rollins, Victorino and Utley coming up against Nationals' lefty Matt Chico.

What a start for Jimmy Rollins! He took five pitches before lining a double into leftfield corner. So much for that .188 in the spring.

Victorino appeared to beat out a bunt but was called out by first base umpire Tom Hallion. With Rollins on third, Chase Utley hits one on the screws for a 395-foot sacrifice fly to dead center.

Ryan Howard's ground out to second ends it, but the Phils manufacture a run to grab an early lead that can only help Myers.

Nick Johnson could be one of the better stories of 2008. He's coming back after missing all of 2007 with a fractured femur and beat out Dmitri Young to win back his job as starting first baseman. Johnson, the nephew of former Phils shortstop and manager Larry Bowa, smacks a double to left-center for the Nats first hit of the day.

Myers just drilled Paul Lo Duca with a pitch of the catcher's hand on a pitch that resembled Chase Utley's broken hand last season. That broken hand, you'll recall, came against Washington's John Lannon.

Myers didn't appear to be throwing at Lo Duca, but it's still worth noting. Myers got out of the inning by fanning Matt Chico. He needed 23 pitches to get out of the inning. Told ya that lead would help him out.

Oh, and a tip of the cap to oots69 who had a keen comment following Lo Duca's HBP.

Jayson Werth validates Charlie Manuel's decision by grounding a two-out double down the leftfield line. Carols Ruiz lined out to left to strand Werth.

The Nationals will bring up the top of the order in the third.

Oh, and a nice job by Kevin O'Brien, who was the first to note that Ron Gant was the Phillies last starting leftfielder prior to Pat Burrell.

Myers had a much more efficient third inning getting the Nats in order. The only notable thing was the final out, a liner to rightfield which seemed to handcuff Jayson Werth. Looked like he was battling the lights or something.

Myers will lead off the bottom of the inning.

The most popular Daily News contest comes and goes with a hardly a peep as the Phils go in order during the Daily News Home Run Payoff contest.

In case you're not familiar, contestants can win $1,000 during a designated inning if a Phillies player hits a home run. When that happens, we generally try to contact the winner and do a brief story. I had to do that story once and talked to a guy who was part of the D-Day Invasion.

It was a boring inning and just felt like sharing that.

Pedro Feliz makes his first fine defensive play on a soft grounder down the line off the bat of Ronnie Belliard. Feliz fired a rocket across the diamond and made it look easy. That's a play that was no so automatic last season.

Myers has retired seven of the last eight Nats and thrown 57 pitches through four innings. Utley leads off the bottom of the fourth.

Utley and Howard start the inning with singles as the Phils have runners at the corners with no out.

Howard, who had been 0-for-6 all-time against Chico, inside-outted his hit to left - a good sign for Howard, who is at his best when he's able to go to leftfield.

Burrell follows with a hit to left to give the Phils a second run.

Feliz and Werth strikeout and Ruiz pops out as a little bit of a drizzle begins to fall. Myers needs three more outs to make the game official.

After a liner right at Chase Utley, Nats pitcher Matt Chico singles up the middle and Cristian Guzman follows with a hit that went just under Utley's glove. Two on, one out for the Washingtonians with the 2-3-4 hitters coming up.

The winds are picking up with the outfield flags blowing out.

Milledge is hit by a pitch loading the bases for Ryan Zimmerman, who beat the Braves last night with a walk-off homer.

Zimmerman hits a sac fly to right as Guzman tags and goes to third.

Myers runs a 3-0 count to Nick Johnson and clearly seems distracted. When Ruiz threw the ball back to the Phillies fiery starter, Myers fielded the ball with his bare right hand.

Sure enough, Johnson walks and Austin Kearns doubles in two runs to give the Nats their first lead of the game. Rich Dubee visited the mound after Milledge was hit earlier the inning, so Myers is on his own.

Gasp! Jimmy Rollins boots a routine grounder that leads to another run. Myers gets out of the inning on a popup, but now the Phils are behind.

Myers is coming out as So Taguchi has been called on to pinch-hit. Give you Myers' numbers in a second.

Taguchi grounded back to the pitcher. Myers pitched five innings, allowing five hits, two hits and hit two batters. He gave up four runs, three of them earned. Last Opening Day, Myers went 7.2 innings and gave up three runs in a loss to the Braves.

Rollins and Victorino go quietly. Ryan Madson will pitch the top half of the inning.

Madson, like just about everybody else, will be a key part of the pitching staff and could use a good outing. A shoulder injury ended his season on July 30 of last season. With the uncertainty surrounding the Phillies starters, Madson likely will be called on quite often.

Getting his first action in the sixth inning of the opener is probably an inning sooner than the Phillies would have liked, however.

After a pair of groundouts and an infield single, Lastings Milledge drills a two-run homer to left. A good bit of the steam has escaped CBP.

Chase Utley leads off the inning with a solo shot to right. He's 2-for-2 with a pair of ribbies. Good way to start a come back and a potential MVP campaign.

The Nationals lift Chico after he gets Ryan Howard to strike out. Righthander Joel Hanrahan will come on to face Pat Burrell and Pedro Feliz.

Sorry, but does anyone else find it difficult not to think of the movie "Slap Shot" whenever somebody named Hanrahan gets into the conversation?

Hanrahan strikes out Burrell and Feliz. Feliz, in particular, looked bad in his AB. Chad Durbin's coming into the game for the Phils.

Chad Durbin, acquired in the offseason as a free agent from Detroit, has an efficient seventh inning giving up only a walk that turned out to be harmless.

Jayson Werth will lead off the bottom of the inning.

Werth lead off with a walk and was doubled in by Ruiz. It was great baserunning by Werth to score as he read the hit perfectly.

Now Manuel will call on Geoff Jenkins as Nats’ manager Manny Acta counters with Ray King, his only lefthander out of the ‘pen.

King strikes out Jenkins, but Rollins follows with a 2-run bomb off. Wow. Rollins takes a curtain call as the place becomes alive once again. Talk about clutch.

The inning ends with an Utley fly out as J.C. Romero gets set to enter the game.

Welcome to the 2008 Phillies. First one to 10 wins.

On paper, the Phillies are set up a little better in the bullpen than the Nats, who played last night and are missing closer Chad Cordero. Jon Rauch closed out last night's game for Washington as Cordero sat out with shoulder tendonitis.

Romero gets the Nats in order, including two via strikeout. Ryan Howard will lead off against righthander Saul Rivera.

Somebody needs to check the shock absorbers on the bandwagon. Lots of people jumping on and off and the season just started three hours ago. You know who you are. (And I'm with ya.)

Howard, Burrell and Feliz go in order as Flash Gordon trots in to take the mound for the Phils in the top of the ninth.

Will it get to the bottom half of the inning still tied?

Milledge starts the inning with an infield hit, but Zimmerman flied out to right. The Phils have held Zimmerman to an 0-for-4 day with a sac fly -- and the Nats still have six runs.

Nick Johnson cranks a double that scores Milledge. Put the rally caps back on and hope it's only a one-run deficit.

Victorino made a nice play to make it close at the plate, but Milledge stepped over the tag of Carlos Ruiz, who had to field a Jimmy Rollins' relay throw that was up the first base line.

Ruiz, trying to pick Johnson off at third, throws the ball into leftfield. It really wasn't a smart play. Lo Duca follows it up with a double that scores another run. There's a stampede to the exits as Rich Dubee visits the mound.

Clay Condrey is warming up for the Phils as the Nats continue to pound the ball. This time Ronnie Belliard rings one off the wall to give Washington a four-run lead.

Here comes Charlie.

Manuel brings in Condrey and Greg Dobbs in a double switch. Dobbs will bat ninth, Condrey sixth, where Pedro Feliz had started. Still only one out.

The doubles fest continues as Dmitri Young bangs one to rightfield that nearly was a homerun, not that it would have mattered. That's the third double of the inning for Washington.

Love the back-and-forth from those sharing the comments on Gordon/Romero. I'd have a hard time justifying bringing Romero back for a second inning. That said, they just announced Gordon's line for the day: 1/3 IP, 4 hits, 5 runs (all earned), 1 BB. Ugh. Brad Lidge better be healthy and he better be effective.

The Phillies go quietly in the ninth and have now dropped four of their last five openers. Especially disappointing is that you could have gotten the Nationals at plus $195 today according to Vegas Vic. They need to play .621 baseball from here on out to get to 100 wins (smile).

I'll have one more posting to wrap up the day. Still time to add your commentary.

The Phillies, as it has been pointed out by those who wanted Romero to pitch the ninth, are off Tuesday and play the Nationals on Wednesday (7 p.m. start). Cole Hamels will take the mound against Washington's Tim Redding.

My three stars from today are Milledge, Johnson and Rollins. Gordon gets the obvious nod for goat of the day.

Thanks for all the comments and feedback.