NL East

Cliff Lee has been fabulous for the Philadelphia Phillies, both this year and in 2009 when the team acquired him from the Cleveland Indians. 

I have recently heard talk of the Braves considering making a trade before the non-waiver deadline on July 31st.

However, I do not think a trade would be helpful to the current situation the Braves are in.

Sure, it would be nice to have a center fielder who could hit, but there are drawbacks to this.

In this article, I will address these drawbacks, and discuss the five main reasons I believe a trade would do harm to the Braves.

Yesterday, on July 1, Bobby Bonilla received a check in the mail from the New York Mets.

The payment was worth $1,193,248.

This is just the first of 25 checks that the 48-year-old Bonilla will receive from the team every year on July 1.

The story of why Bonilla is receiving checks from the Mets is fairly well known.

Roy Halladay spent 11 full seasons in Toronto (and a few starts in a 12th), so this game will be quite a homecoming.

Here is a guy who when he left Toronto took out a full-page ad in the newspaper to thank the fans and the organization for everything they had done for him.

The Washington Nationals have frequently been the worse team in baseball. In their short existence, they have never won a World Series or even made it to the playoffs.

Constantly, the Nats have been plagued by inconsistency and failure to deliver the finishing touch.

This year, however, the Nationals are going to make the playoffs.

The New York Mets had their six-game win steak snapped last night in a 4-3 loss to the Washington Nationals. They still showed the same fight and clutch pitching that had brought them to this point, but fell a bit short.

Now the Mets will look to start a new win steak when they head to Philadelphia for a three game set with the Phillies.

In more ways than one, waiting for the 2011 regular season to begin was especially taxing for guys like myself.

After the Philadelphia Phillies nabbed Cliff Lee from the clutches of the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees, the flurry of headlines began to develop. That echoed throughout the offseason, and Lee joined a rotation filled with Cy Young winners, backed by a lineup filled with All-Stars.

It is not a good time to be Derek Lowe right now.

Lowe, a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, was arrested last night after police pulled him over and smelled alcohol, according to TMZ.com.

Braves right-handed starter Derek Lowe was arrested under suspicion for driving under the influence Wednesday night. Lowe was stopped around 10p.m by State Patrol on Peachtree Road at Ronson Road in Atlanta. After smelling a strong alcoholic odor, the officer conducted a field sobriety test; Lowe however refused to take the state-administered alcohol test.

The Philadelphia Phillies have suffered some early blows to start the 2011 season. Even without Chase Utley and Brad Lidge, though, the Phillies are in first place and are tied for the best record in baseball.

Here are six reasons why the Phillies can still win the title without Utley and Lidge.