Mar. 26 -- ALMOST HOME

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The travel plans have been posted on the bulletin board in the clubhouse. After tomorrow's road game against the Tigers (hopefully, hitters will be first-pitch swinging), the Phillies will board a 5:30 p.m. charter at Lakeland Regional Airport and fly to Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, GM Pat Gillick and his inner circle will continue to explore options to acquire a reliever. As we discussed yesterday, there are only 11 healthy pitchers in camp, and No. 11 is J.D. Durbin, who has a 12.33 ERA and has allowed eight homers in 15-1/3 innings this spring. Talked to Gillick for a while after yesterday's game, and he remains hopeful that the Phillies will be able to acquire a reliever. Obviously, he didn't name names, but veteran lefties Steve Kline (Giants) and Mike Stanton (Reds) may be available, either via a trade or a waiver claim.

Gillick also said the Phillies most likely will keep only 11 pitchers and add Brad Lidge when he's eligible to be activated from the disabled list April 5. So, in an ideal world, the Phils will peddle Wes Helms for a reliever, dump Durbin (J.D., not Chad) and keep Chris Snelling, at least for a week.

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Kris Benson hasn't been added to the Phillies' 40-man roster, but he isn't opting out of his contract either. Tight-lipped assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and Benson's agent, Gregg Clifton, were working out the details yesterday. But from talking to Benson, it sounded like the deadline to put him on the roster would be extended. We'll follow up later today.

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Chase Utley has rejoined the team after missing two days for personal reasons, and he's in the lineup against Yankees' opening-day starter Chien-Ming Wang. Here's your full lineup: SS Jimmy Rollins, 3B Greg Dobbs, Utley, 1B Ryan Howard, LF Pat Burrell, RF Geoff Jenkins, CF Jayson Werth, C Chris Coste, RHP Brett Myers. This will be Myers' last start before Monday's opener. The Yankees' traveling party includes Wang, Joba Chamberlain, Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon and old friend Bobby Abreu. No Derek Jeter.