NL East

Phillip Humber is now the 21st pitcher in Major League Baseball history to throw a perfect game and the seventh ex-New York Met to throw either a perfect game or a no hitter with a different team.

The Mets have never thrown a no-hitter in the history of their franchise.

Now, the occurrence of just a few instances could be seen as coincidence. But the fact that we're now up to seven different former Mets etching their names into baseball history is simply too much to ignore.

The Atlanta Braves are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now, having won nine of their last 10 games.

And, they've done it with a combination of pitching and hitting.

With their recent success, and the early-season questions of needing to acquire another outfielder to take the place of Martin Prado, I'm wondering if it's best for the Braves to stand pat with their lineup.

The absence of Drew Storen at the end of ballgames is beginning to weigh on the Washington Nationals.

School: Barbe HS (LA)
D.O.B.: 12/22/93 (18-years-old)
Height: 6’1" ft.
Weight: 180 lbs.
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Position: SS

Stats:

Innings limits may not always be the most popular thing for managers and owners to impose, but they are definitely important in keeping young arms fresh and healthy.

Too often in baseball drafts, I see guys coming off injuries from the previous season being forgot about. And from what I've seen so far, Johan Santana has fallen victim to this phenomena.

I realize that Santana is coming off major surgery and hasn't played a regular season inning since 2010, but he's still a great talent and the unquestioned ace pitcher for the New York Mets.

The countdown of the 50 greatest players in New York Mets history continues with this Part Three portion in which the 21st to 30th greatest players will be named.

When determining who really were the best Mets ever, the criteria for this should include the players' overall numbers as a Met, the impact they had on the franchise, how much of a fan favorite they each were, the personalities they had and the overall success of the teams they played on.

The Washington Nationals took a big step forward in 2011, and they'll head into 2012 looking to take yet another big step forward.

The Nats finished just a game under .500 last season, which is pretty impressive considering the fact Jayson Werth was a bust in the first year of his big contract and they only got to enjoy five starts from Stephen Strasburg. 

In the end, the Atlanta Braves just plain ran out of gas in 2011. Their collapse wasn't quite as bad as that of the Boston Red Sox, but it was just as disappointing.

The Braves didn't use their collapse as an excuse to go out and completely revamp their team over the offseason. On the contrary, they stayed eerily quiet, making very few moves and generating very few headlines. The Braves laid low.

With all these soft openings, the Marlins are starting to realize their interesting creation in left-center field might pose a problem for batters. 

Already, the batter's eye in straight-away center field has been repainted black from the green color that is evident throughout the walls of the outfield.