by Andrew Andreychik

The Phillies have won seven of their first nine regular season games, and their off-season acquisition of Roy Halladay has paid off. Halladay is 2-0 in his first two starts as a Phillie, and he has 17 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.56.

Their other off-season acquisition was former Phillie Placido Polanco. Polanco is leading Philadelphia with a batting average of .475. Also, Polanco is yet to make an error at his new position at third base  .

The only worries Philadelphia has are two injuries and the pitching of Cole Hamels. The two injuries are of lead off man Jimmy Rollins and right fielder Jayson Werth. Rollins injured his calf in warm ups on Sunday, and Werth tweaked his hip flexor running to first also on Sunday against the Nationals.

The pitching of Hamels picked up right where it left off last year: not good. Even though Hamels is 2-0, he has an ERA of 5.06. Also, he gave up four runs to the struggling Nationals and surrendered six hits.

Even with these struggles, the Philadelphia Phillies are looking to get to the World Series for the third straight year.  If they continue their impressive play, they might win it all for the second time in three years.