Beat writers are sort of like beat cops: they have their territory, and they keep a watchful eye on it. The difference is that with baseball beat writers, it’s their quarry that carry the big clubs.
Right now, the writers are walking their beat on the not-so-mean streets of Clearwater, spring home of the Phillies since 1947. The Fightin’ fans of the Forties had only print dispatches to peruse, but with the benefit of nearly 80 years of technological advancement those of us left on the chillier home front can enjoy, if not the actual sights and sounds of spring training, then at least a rather sunny simulacrum of it.