A Young Season, and Reason to Hope
For Phillies fans, it's easy to get cynical. The team is off to a 1-4 start. The offense is anemic. The bullpen can't keep a lead. After less than a week, it's looking like everyone who picked the Phils to finish 30th out of 30 teams was right on target. Of course, it's a long season. There are 157 games left to be played. Teams have ups and downs throughout the season. And if there is any encouraging news in this first week, it's the staring pitching. Hellickson, Nola and Eickhoff all had solid outings. Velasquez announced his presence with authority blanking the reigning NL Champions with 9 strike outs. Even with Morton's rocky start, Phillies starting pitching is sixth in in ERA (2.93), fourth in opponents' batting average (.194) and third in WHIP (.98). Two of the staring pitchers, Hellickson and Velasquez, have a zero ERA. Offensively, Franco is hitting .286 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Howard has 2 home runs. With 359 career home runs, Howard just