These are predictions for winners of some important post season awards-

NL

Cy Young- Brandon Webb

Rookie of the Year- Edinson Volquez

Manager of the Year- Lou Pinneila

AL

Cy Young- Joe Saunders

Rookie of the Year- Evan Longoria

Manager of the Year- Joe Maddon(Tampa Bay)

MVP

Chase Utley(a phillie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Playoffs

Al East Division Winner- Tampa Bay

AL Central Division Winner- Chicago

AL West Division Winner- Los Angeles

AL Wildcard Winner- Boston

AL Champion- Boston

NL East Division Winner- Phillies!

NL Central Division Winner- St. Louis

NL West Devision Winner- Arizona

NL Wildcard Winner- Chicago

NL Champion- Phillies

World Series Champion(Boston vs. Philadelphia)- Boston

When you Phillies fans out there watched the opening day game (as i hope you did), did any of you notice why the Phillies lost. Well it was "The Flash." Also, did any of you see when he gave up a hit and two walks followed by a Dan Uggla grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to give away the June 11th game against the Marlins (he also only had one out in that appearance). And yet another example, when Gordon gave away the Cardinals game on June 15th. Most people say Chase Utley was responsible for the first base errors but on the first play, Gordon was led to the bag and stopped, and on the second one he let the ball go inches above his glove. The Cardinals won on the second error. Gordon's ballooning ERA of 5.06 is horrible compared to the Tom Gordon that we saw last year and this months ERA of 7.50 is terrible compared to even earlier this year. His velocity has been dropping and hitters facing him have gotten more hits than innings he has pitched (28 hits in 26.2 innings). Gordon is hampered by age and is not physically able to get into as many games as the Phillies need. The Phillies should try to pick up either one of the iron-man bullpen members in Washington ( Luis Ayala, Jon Rauch, Saul Rivera) or Heath Bell. All these people are on losing teams that will not make the playoffs this year. Tom Gordon is all "flashed" out and would probably be better not giving away games on a playoff contender team.

Tell whether this hypothetical situation is a buy (you agree) or a sell (disagree)...

Chase Utley has another great half and can squeeze out the Phillies third straight MVP award

Ryan Howard strikes out 200+ times and breaks his own strike-out record in a single season

Pat Burrell can hit 30+ home runs even with his current drop in production

Any player will hit 30 home runs by the all star break

Josh Hamilton will reach 90 RBIs by the all star break

Adrian Gonzalez will lead the league in either home runs or RBIs by the end of the season

Brandon Webb and Joe Saunders will both win twenty games and become the Cy Young winners of their respective leagues

Barry Zito, Aaron Harang, and Joe Blanton will all become twenty game losers by the end of the season!

Recent posts have suggested that the Phillies need to trade because of a lack in starting pitching. Phillies pitching has not been bad this year( except for Brett Myers) and the Phils do not have the prospect or expendable players needed to land a good pitcher. The main issue with the Phils is their batting consistency. As evident in the Cardinals series, the Phillies can bat in a huge number of runs (20), and follow up the next day with mediocre numbers (2). This also showed up in the Red Sox series. The Phillies beat the Sox by a score of 8-2 the first game but follow up by getting shut out 3-0 and then beaten 7-4. The Phils need everyone to hit consistently and not be as streaky as Howard and Burrell( terrible start, better now and great start, worse now respectively). If the Phils can sort out these problems and hit consistently then they will be the best team in the National League, possibly in Major League Baseball.

They also need to get rid of Tom Gordon but that is for a different post!