Phils season lost after one day

It's over.  The Phillies season is lost.

One day of the season has passed and the Phillies are already a game behind the Braves.

Why bother playing the rest of the season?  There's no point.

Of course, I am kidding.

However, the so called baseball experts are not kidding when the consensus is now that the Braves are the team to beat in the NL East.

Just a few months ago - shoot, just a month ago - the Phillies were prohibitive favorties to win the World Series.

A Chase Utley and Brad Lidge injury later, and now many cannot even see them winning the division.

Yes, having Utley out for an extended period of time hurts.  It hurts a lot. 

But, did the experts forget that the Phillies still have a dominating pitching staff?

Did they forget that the Phillies suffered a ton of injuries last season?  Utley missed much of the summer with a broken finger, Ryan Howard missed August, Placido Polanco played with an injured elbow, and Jimmy Rollins only played 88 games.

Oh yeah, the led the majors with 97 wins.

Of 45 experts on espn.com, 16 picked the Braves to win the division.

That's 35%, but likely 35% higher than just a month ago.

And the World Series - forget it - 33 have the Red Sox winning.  The Phillies got 7 votes, the Braves 2, and the White Sox, Rockies, and Giants all got one.

The Phillies will be fine.  Pitching will carry them.