There were few hints during those evenings when thousands of amateur astronomers locked their telescopes on the western sky that the Phillies were headed for a similar alignment of stars five seasons down the baseball road. As the turbulent 2002 season entered its second month, shortstop and leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins was in his second season. He would hit a disappointing .245 with an on-base percentage of .306 that many baseball men deemed unacceptable. He walked just 54 times and scored what so far is a career-low 82 runs.

But J-Roll was the least of GM Ed Wade and manager Larry Bowa's problems.

All-Star third baseman Scott Rolen, a superb defender and dangerous hitter whose early overall numbers were on a par with those of the great Mike Schmidt at a similar stage, had stonewalled every effort to sign him to a long-term contract. It became obvious that the dour Indianan didn't like the city, its fans or what he perceived as a lack of commitment to winning by Phillies' ownership. Both the team's franchise player and the planets in the solar system had fallen out of alignment by the time Wade traded Rolen to St. Louis for a package led by versatile infielder Placido Polanco.

Hard-nosed Chase Utley was at Triple A Scranton, where an experiment to make the former No. 1 draft pick into a third baseman was going so poorly he had committed a staggering 14 errors his first 25 games. But the UCLA alum led the International League with 39 doubles and was third in the league with 57 extra-base hits.

Hulking first baseman Ryan Howard, a fifth-round draft pick with power to burn and a glove some scouts said should be burned, was at low-Class A Lakewood. He would hit 19 homers and make the Sally League All-Star team. But nobody was predicting stardom for the 6-4, 245-pound slugger. Many felt there were just too many holes in his lefthanded swing and in his game. Phillies special adviser to Wade and resident icon Dallas Green conceded Howard "has a puncher's chance." Or did he mean, has a chance to punch out?

I don't know where the planets will be in the 2008 alignment scheme. But the three megastars in the Phillies' firmament are in as perfect a row as were Venus, Saturn and Mars that May in 2002.

Planets Rollins . . . Utley . . . Howard.

They whirl in a tight orbit, dangerously close to the potential black hole of a pitching staff that could put a big "So What?" on the lens of the telescopes.

The Swingston Trio was walking toward the Bright House Field clubhouse after BP on a recent morning, a troika of All-Stars, representing two MVP trophies with a third on hold, and more than a third of a club-record 2008 payroll in the $110 million neighborhood.

"Who's the best Phillies first baseman of all time?" a front-office type asked, confident of my answer.

"This guy, no doubt, nobody close," I replied. "The power numbers so far eclipse any of the negatives. It's a position where the bigger the power, the slower the legs and weaker the glove. But this guy can carry a club a week, a month, which he's already done and will do again."

"The best Phillies shortstop?"

"With all due respect to Hall of Famer Dave 'Beauty' Bancroft, a Deadball Era shortstop who had his best years with the Giants, Rollins is the best without a close second. I wrote that statement fairly early last season and there was some muttering by the Larry Bowa camp. But if Bowa still rates a defensive edge, I can't imagine where it is. And Rollins hasn't had a Mike Schmidt flashing across to vacuum most of the balls to his deep backhand since Rolen left. His hands are sure and his arm is as powerful, accurate and consistent as anybody's in either league, no matter what the Bill James crowd tries to cyber-prove. The managers and coaches don't use formulas when they pick the Gold Gloves. They pick what they see and who is beating them."

"The best Phillies second baseman?"

"Well, Manny Trillo is still the best in the field I have seen here, but Utley's glove has improved and his offense, including his hair-on-fire baserunning, takes him to a higher level. Manny was a tough out. But Chase is the toughest middle-infield out in the game today.

"If Pedro Feliz hits 25 homers playing in Ranger Rick Park, this infield could easily hit 135 homers. That's never been done by an infield."

Nor is it common for any ballclub, including the 1927 Yankees, the Boys of Summer Dodgers of the 1950s and Cincinnati's 1975-76 Big Red Machine, to have the best-in-franchise history at three of the eight non-pitching positions all at once. You can make a case for Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Pete Rose for the Reds. But Pete made the All-Star team at second, third and all three outfield positions. Yet, he was never the best Red of all time at any of those positions.

I'll give you Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella and Pee Wee Reese on that Dodgers dynasty, but the Los Angeles wing of the family will want to argue about everybody but Robinson. (Biggest difference between Campy and Mike Piazza? Campy could catch.)

The Phillies have been around since 1883. Counting whoever makes at least one box score this season, about 1,800 players will have passed through.

Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are the best of all the shortstops, second basemen and first basemen on that list.

They will be batting first, third and fourth in manager Charlie Manuel's lineup.

It is historic. But it will take the best efforts of 22 other guys to make it either historically special - or an epic waste of three exceptional baseball talents. *

Send e-mail to bill1chair@aol.com.

For recent columns, go to

http://go.philly.com/conlin.