The Road Warriors

After Thursday night’s win against the best team in baseball, the red hot Phillies are 20-6 on the road this season, and winners of 7 in a row. Now to be fair 6 of those wins were against the worst team in baseball and another in the bottom third, but a win is a win is a win is a win.

The only things that explain this superiority on the road, and average play at home (12-14) is that the Phil’s pitcher’s on the road have a little more room to work with, and just a little bit of bad luck offensively at home. I would expect things to even out over the rest of the season.

Also, Raul Ibanez just can not be stopped. He makes my head hurt.

It Hurts Being A Met

The Mets have been freakishly unlucky this season from a health standpoint, so much so that a media worker traveling with the team may possibly have Swine Flu. Some other kind of flu has gone thru the clubhouse and made John Maine miss some time, and All-Star Carlos Beltran miss more than a week.

Thats only the start. Carlos Delgado? Out until at least August. Jose Reyes? Just found out he has a hamstring tear and could be out until the All-Star Break or even later. Ryan Church? Missed 25% of the season so far. Oliver Perez, he of the 10 ERA? Out til the AS Break (but maybe they don’t want him back).

The Mets need to get healthy and quick. They have been rather lucky that some of the replacements, Catcher Omar Santos in particular, who have hit some, but that won’t last. They need to go get a pitcher and an above average utility fielder if they want to stay in this thing.

The Central Is Better Than We Thought

Who would have thought there would be 4 above average teams in this division. Now granted, the Astros and Buccos are 2 of the 3 worst teams in baseball so it pads the schedule of the rest of the division a little (so do the Nats in the East, and the Rockies in the West). However, the Cardinals are one power bat away from being able to take charge of the division, the Brewers only need one top-tier pitcher, and the Cubs just need to be healthy and play up to their potential. The Reds are solid, but are a couple more pieces away from winning this division. This is gonna be the rest race in September, no doubt.

There Are Some REALLY Bad Teams

The Nats, Rockies, Astros, Pirates, Padres and Marlins are probably 6 of the 7 worst teams in baseball. The Pads and Marlins have bright spots and aren’t very far off from being competitive, but the gap between this group and the second tier is wide.

Look for these teams (with the exception of the Astros because they are horribly run) to start selling off some veterans soon to think of their future. The Pirates took the first step by dealing 2008 All-Star Nate McClouth to the Braves for 3 highly regarded prospects.

Leave you with new projected standings:

NL East

1. Phillies: 92-70 (+4)
2. Mets: 88-74 (-3)
3. Braves: 85-77 (+3)
4. Marlins: 76-86 (No Change)
5. Nationals: 59-103 (-10)

NL Central

1. Cubs: 90-72 (-3)
2. Cardinals: 89-74 (+3)
3. Brewers: 88-74 (+3)
4. Reds: 83-79 (+2)
5. Astros: 72-90 (-1)
6. Pirates: 70-91 (+1)

NL West

1. Dodgers: 96-64 (+3)
2. Giants: 81-81 (-1)
3. DBacks: 77-86 (-3)
4. Padres: 74-89 (+5)
5. Rockies: 65-97 (-8)

Another Update at the end of June!