Six games with the 2008 world-champion Phillies -- including two in Citizens Bank Park April 2-3 -- and four with the Tampa Bay Rays dot the 33-game Pirates' spring schedule, the club announced today.

The Pirates-Phillies close the spring with a strange three-game set. After meeting twice before, on March 6 and 15, they meet at Philadelphia's spring home in Clearwater, Fla., on April Fool's Day. Then they travel for a night game in Philadelphia April 2 and an afternoon game the next day, before the regular season opens with the Pirates at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers April 5.

The Pirates also are slated to play two spring-training exhibitions apiece against the current World Series champions, the New York Yankees (March 8 and 14), and the Boston Red Sox (March 19 and 24).

They play the Baltimore Orioles in a night game at McKechnie Field on March 10.

Their spring schedule unofficially opens March 2 at McKechnie with the usual charity game against the local college -- which isn't named Manatee Community anymore, it's State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.

Spring season tickets go on sale Monday at $232 for box seats, $217 reserve and $142 grandstand. Spring-training season ticketholders will get the first chances, with a deposit of $25 or so, to purchase the same seat for the 70-game home schedule of the new Bradenton entry in the Florida State League.

Go to www.pirates.com for the complete schedule.

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