NL East

Last season, the Mets were supposed to be strong offensively and weak in the starting pitching department.

It was the opposite.

This season, the Mets are firing on all cylinders and sit at 3-2 without playing a home game. For a team that went 32-49 on the road last season, they're off to a good start.

When Stephen Strasburg was pulled from his start on August 21, the Nationals organization immediately knew it was a huge loss, competitively and financially.

Widely considered the "most-hyped draft pick in draft history," Strasburg was supposed to be the savior for the Nationals for years to come.

When he made his debut in June, every sign pointed to that notion becoming reality.

The Braves, known as the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in America, have seen their fair share of ups and downs during their time in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta.

Since the franchise first sent players onto the field as Boston Red Stockings in 1871, there have been a countless number of influential players to play for the organization, especially pitchers.

This year's Atlanta Braves pitching staff is no exception.

The time for questions is over. Throughout the offseason, that's all we did. Can this team do this? Will that team be able to do that? With each team having completed its opening series, we can get a pretty good idea of what the season will hold for each major league team. Of course, there will always be questions. Can the Philadelphia Phillies continue putting runs on the board, sans Chase Utley and Jayson Werth? Will the Boston Red Sox pitching staff rebound?

When you look at today’s game, being able to play multiple positions is important.  Look at a guy like Ben Zobrist of the Tampa Bay Rays.  He can play seven positions.

With versatility, it makes it easier for the manager to shake things up, and make in-game substitutions.  When someone gets hurt, these are guys that you can plug in.

I am going to start this article off by adding the disclaimer that we are still only five games into the season.

However, the Mets have gotten off to a quick 3-2 start. The team has looked good with the exception of Mike Pelfrey.

It is already obvious that this is a different Mets team than the one we saw last year. Last year’s incarnation of the team would have just laid down and rolled over once they were down 7-0 to the Phillies.

A red-hot cleanup hitter and a clutch bullpen performance led the host Phillies past the feisty New York Mets 10-7. With the victory, the home team held onto first place in the very early stages of the 2011 pennant race.

With the temperature holding around 50 degrees, both the climate and the final score more resembled a defensive battle in the National Football League. Of course, it was a cool evening for baseball and an unexpected April slugfest.

Chris Young Final Line: 5.1IP 5H 1R 1ER 4BB 7K 1.00 GB/FB Ratio 

Chris Young's problems over the last few seasons have coincided with his durability, and not his ability to pitch. Young can be a good back-end starter because of his ability to get strikeouts and to consistently sustain a low BABIP (batting average on balls in play) and HR/FB ratio. 

After the Washington Nationals’ 11-2 humbling at the hands of the Atlanta Braves, Ryan Zimmerman promised a better effort from the club on Tuesday. Then Zimmerman went out and backed up that promise.

Despite Zimmerman’s tremendous effort, a lack of clutch hitting and a tenth inning error by Jayson Werth allowed the Marlins to win 3-2 on a walk-off hit by Donnie Murphy.

There aren't many rivalries in baseball bigger than that between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.

Ever since the Phillies stunned the Mets by overcoming a seven-game deficit to win the division in '07, there has been a growing feud between the two squads.