NL East

Bill Simmons calls it the Ewing Theory.  Other sports fans have associated the phenomenon with Peyton Manning, Alex Rodriguez, Tiki Barber and Drew Bledsoe. But in Philadelphia, there is only one player who should come to mind:

Bobby Abreu.

In Friday night's series opener against the Florida Marlins, Roy Oswalt pitched four innings of no-hit baseball and looked magnificent. After allowing a solo home run to Logan Morrison to lead off the fifth inning, he still pitched well, allowing only one more run through six innings of work.

However, at the start of the seventh inning, something was wrong.

One of the biggest questions surrounding the Atlanta Braves was the status of starter Jair Jurrjens.

After an impressive 2011 debut, Atlanta fans can breathe a sigh of relief. Although the young righty was absent for much of the Atlanta playoff run last season, he was seen as a crucial part of the Braves starting staff.

Normally, I dive right into recommending specific waiver wire pickups, but based on the drastic trends so early in the season, I have to provide some big picture fantasy advice.

With just over two weeks in the books, some unsuspecting players have emerged on to the fantasy radar, while others have already been scooped up, despite a shaky track record.  But before you replace a consistent veteran with the latest fad, please consider a few things.

As Keith Hernandez loves to say, "Almost only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades."

In this young season, the Mets have managed to take a season of hope, with so many changes in the off-season and a great 3-1 start, into a season of early heartbreak.  The Mets have taken two aspects of baseball that usually generate a winning formula and turned them into a stylish way to lose and torment the Shea Citi Faithful.

Tonight, the Milwaukee Brewers (7-5) come into Washington, D.C. to face off against the Nationals (5-7).

You know what I did yesterday? I wasted seven hours and a day off watching Mets baseball at Citi Field. That's right. I woke up early and took two trains just so I can sit and watch the Colorado Rockies pound the Mets into the ground in both games of a doubleheader.

Waste of money? Only $20.

Waste of time? Absolutely.

With much publicity surrounding the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves, the New York Mets have the opportunity to sneak up on the perennial division winners and catch them off guard, assuming certain players on their roster step up and rebound from tough, even dismal 2010 seasons.

With that in mind, here is a list of those five players that the Mets most need to overachieve this season.

"They can't hit." "They're too old." "They're all inured." These phrases were all uttered toward the Phillies lineup leading up to the 2011 MLB season. Now, eleven games into the season, the Phillies have been proving these critics wrong. The Phillies are 8-3 and they have scored 66 runs. Also, they have hit a remarkable .318 AVG, and have a tremendous .386 OBP which leads the MLB.

**This is an article I wrote after Harry Kalas passed away on April 13, 2009.**

Things certainly will not be the same in the Phillies' press box this 2009 season; despite the following-up of a most memorable championship campaign. Philadelphia, a city which has been gifted with the greatest of voices the world has seen, now have lost quite possibly the best of them all: Harry Kalas.