NL East

At the quarter pole of the 2012 season, the Philadelphia Phillies find themselves in unfamiliar territory—staring up at the rest of the National League East.  And while the Phightins are off to their slowest start in the last five years, there's still reason to believe Philadelphia can claim its sixth consecutive division crown.  

Here are five good reasons to believe.

In the offseason, with Ryan Howard out for an extended period of time, the Philadelphia Phillies grabbed Jim Thome for $1.25 million. 

That experiment has run its course, and it’s time for the club to part ways with the aging bat.

Here are six reasons why:

1.  He’s hurt

The Washington Nationals have a problem when it comes to their starting pitching.

They have too many worthy starters. It is certainly a decent problem to have for any major league ballclub.

With Chien-Ming Wang looming in the minors and his rehab stint nearing its end, the Nats are going to have to decide which of their overachieving starters will have to take the fall and move to the bullpen. 

After starting out 2012 sluggishly, the Philadelphia Phillies have put the pedal to the medal over the last week, winning six straight games and seven out of eight against San Diego, Houston, Chicago, and now Boston.

Initial reports on Michael Morse suggested that he would be able to return some time in June, while the slugger's own comments suggest that he'll be ready to go by June 1.

Its election time again.  Philadelphians know what that means. 

Vote early.  Vote often.

This is not about city council, though.  Nor is it about blue and red states. 

It certainly has nothing to do with the mayor’s office.

The constituency is located in Ashburn Alley.  The candidates wear white with cherry pinstripes.     

Balloting is underway for this year’s MLB All Star game. 

To channel Tim Kurkjian, one of the reasons we love watching baseball is because the game doesn't always turn out the way you expect.

It's no secret the Miami Marlins were in heavy pursuit of free agent slugger Albert Pujols this past offseason and dangled nearly $200 million for 10 years to get him signed, sealed and delivered to sunny South Beach. 

Yesterday, the daily chatter got kind of serious around baseball as many of us debated Cole Hamels throwing a pitch at Bryce Harper in Sunday night's game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals. 

Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen has decided to pull offseason acquisition Heath Bell from the closer's role "for a few days," reports Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post.