Philadelphia

Major League Baseball is filled with young talent.

Some of these men have been highly touted, while some of them are still flying under the radar. As they continue to fill up the sheets, fans will recognize their talents by late September. 

There are a couple stipulations to this list: 

1. They made "The Show" no earlier than the 2010 season.

 2. They have played a game for their respective club already.  

These next 25 guys are the new generation and future of baseball.

The Philadelphia Phillies have suffered some early blows to start the 2011 season. Even without Chase Utley and Brad Lidge, though, the Phillies are in first place and are tied for the best record in baseball.

Here are six reasons why the Phillies can still win the title without Utley and Lidge.

Gold Notes

The top of the third inning of the Phillies vs. Brewers Wednesday matinee was a wild, mistake-filled affair.

As Rickie Weeks, the Brewers second baseman and leadoff hitter, stepped into the box to start the second inning against Phils starter Cliff Lee, CSN's play-by-play man Tom McCarthy took note of a stat that he tossed to his longtime broadcast partner Chris Wheeler.

A few weeks tardy, but here are my thoughts and analysis on the season that lies ahead. Thus far in the young season, there have been some big surprises. The Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals are a combined 23-11, while the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets trail their respective divisions. Okay, the Mets' early woes aren't much of a shock.

In baseball today, fickle fans have a fascination with speed when it comes to pitching.  Unless a pitcher can throw a fastball upwards of 94 miles per hour, it seems that he is not worth one's total attention.  While the fastball is certainly a fine pitch, I would prefer today to talk about a horse of a different color: the changeup.

The Philadelphia Phillies are just over two weeks into the 2011 baseball season, and their super star second baseman has yet to take the infield.  Unfortunately, at this point there is no guarantee that Utley will take the field this season.

So far the Phillies have done fine without Utley, going 9-4 without him and sitting atop the NL East division. The pitching staff has, at times, looked as though they might be able to carry this team without anyone at all playing second base.

Was what Jackie Robinson endured and accomplished as significant as what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did?  If so, then why doesn’t Jackie have a national holiday like Dr. King has in his honor?

Perhaps no holiday because the world hasn’t seen any vivid images of Jackie being sprayed down with water hoses or being hauled off to jail.  I’ll deal with the first question later here.

**This is an article I wrote after Harry Kalas passed away on April 13, 2009.**

Things certainly will not be the same in the Phillies' press box this 2009 season; despite the following-up of a most memorable championship campaign. Philadelphia, a city which has been gifted with the greatest of voices the world has seen, now have lost quite possibly the best of them all: Harry Kalas.

The absence of Jayson Werth, Chase Utley and Brad Lidge from the Phillies left plenty of cause for concern at the beginning of the season.

Losing the team’s No. 3 and No. 5 hitters and the closer created a scenario where many hoped that the Phillies would be able to hang on until Utley and Lidge returned.

But instead of merely surviving, the Phillies, with a 7-2 record, are thriving.

Welcome to BoxPlus, where I give you just a little more than the box score does.

Phillies 9, Astros 4

Game 2 of the Phillies' young season saw a bit more of an offensive attack to back ace No. 2, Cliff Lee.