Two surprising teams phace off in Philadelphia today as the Cincinnati Reds visit the Phillies. When you look at Cincy's offensive core of Griffey, Dunn, Kearns and Casey, you have to believe they are going to score runs if those four are healthy. So far, they've supplied the power with 16 extra-base hits out of the 30 hits they've collected. And those four can supply more than enough offense when the pitching staff has a 2.29 ERA, with the bullpen contributing a 0.44 ERA.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia pitching is fine (4.19 ERA is middel of the pack, and they've only walked 16 batters). But the offense has only outscored Montreal in the NL. If I told you Pat Burrell would have a .308 BA after a week, you'd probably think the Phillies were undefeated. But it appears that Burrell's 2003 rubbed off on everyone else, and the team has a .220 BA and more strikeouts than hits. Will they turn it around? Sure, this is a better team than that. But at five games out they have the biggest deficit in the majors.

Enjoy!