The Philadelphia Phililes (7-2) have started the 2010 season exhibiting all the tendencies that mark them out as lead contenders for not only the National League but the World Series as well. Despite losing their streak with a 7-5 defeat at the hands of the Nationals, everything is looking good for the National league champs. When their injured opening pitchers return this will be an incredibly powerful outfit.

Comments have already started to circulate on the differences in Ryan Howard’s game. Whilst many have previously highlighted his vulnerability to the shift his spray chart has shown recently that his hitting has changed and his approach at-bat has improved his ability to hit either way. A major’s scout revealed his take on Howard:

“”He’s a different hitter right now. He’s much more content to let the ball travel and use another side of the field. In the past, you could beat him in early, and really get him cheating. And that made him very vulnerable to those curveballs and changeups away. But now you can’t do that, because he won’t go out and chase those balls. Just a different hitter in every way.””

This can only be bad news for opposition teams and even with the loss of Jimmy Rollins the Phillies, historically one of the most confident teams in the league are ready to fight together:

“”We’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the past three or four years. We’re a resilient club. We’ve come from behind. We’ve been down. We’ve been out. We’ve been written off. We’ve been there, done all that. None of it really seems to affect us. We know who we are. We know what we’ve got. We know how to play the game.

“In ’07, Chase [Utley] went down. He broke his hand. … That didn’t seem to faze us. [Ryan Howard] got sick last year. He was in the hospital. Broke his [iron-man] streak. That didn’t seem to bother us, either. So no. We’re a team. Baseball’s not an individual sport. We don’t live and die by the playing of one guy. It’s a collective group effort, through and through. I think that attitude and that ability we have to do that — I think that separates us.”

So said Jayson Werth in a recent interview and this shows why Philadelphia with a hot start to the season will once again be the team to beat.

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