Around the majors

Phillies slip up

The Phillies have revealed that they are, in fact, human. They're 3-7 in their last 10 games, and had a recent four-game stretch in which they scored just six total runs. Obviously it's very early, but with the Phillies stumbling a bit, no one in the National League is doing anything that even resembles running away with their respective division.

Roy Halladay also proved last night that he is not a pitch-throwing droid sent from the future to destroy the National League. He gave up five earned runs to the Giants and took his first loss of the season.

Staying in the NL East ...

If you'll kindly scroll down your NL East standings, you'll find that the Mets are surging while those Phillies fall back to the pack. After taking three of four from the Cubs, they swept the Braves over the weekend. They're now above .500, in large part because they're fourth in the majors with a 3.17 ERA.

Did you know ...

Second baseman Kelly Johnson, who struggled mightily with the Braves last year and was signed as a free agent by the Diamondbacks in December, is tied for the National League lead in home runs with seven (his career high is 16). Even more impressive, he's third in the majors with a 1.162 OPS (the league average is about .770).

Around the majors

Milton Bradley watch
Though he homered last night, Bradley has just three hits in 26 at-bats and an OBP of .281 with the Mariners. Ha.

Oh, and he flicked off Rangers fans on Friday. He's insane.

Trouble brewing for Milwaukee's closer?
Is 42-year-old Trevor Hoffman finally out of juice? He's allowed at least one run in three of his four appearances this season, and he blew consecutive save opportunities on Friday and Sunday against the Cardinals. On Friday, he gave up a two-out, two-run home run to Nick Stavinoha, and on Sunday he allowed back-to-back jacks to Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday. Granted, those last two guys are no slouches, but Hoffman allowed two home runs all of last season and allowed two in a five-pitch span on Sunday.

Halladay off to a quick start
Is there any chance Roy Halladay won't win the Cy Young now that he's in the National League (he won one in the AL, in 2003)? He gave up just one run in seven innings on Opening Day and benefited from a powerful Phillies offense to go 1-0, and then logged his first NL complete game (zero earned runs, zero walks, eight strikeouts) in a win over the Astros on Sunday. He's now 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA.