What to expect in April

After a full week of spring training I feel confident I really have the pulse of this team. In fact, I’m ready to predict how they’ll do in every game in April:

April 2	Atlanta	loss 4-6
April 4	Atlanta	loss 2-7
April 5	Atlanta	win 6-3	(Howard homers)
April 6	at Florida	loss 1-5
April 7	at Florida	win 10-0	(Howard homers)
April 8	at Florida	win 8-3
April 9	at NY Mets	win 5-4
April 11	at NY Mets	loss 1-2
April 12	at NY Mets	win 4-3	(11 innings)
April 13	Houston	win 9-5	(Howard homers twice)
April 14	Houston	win 4-3
April 15	Houston	loss 2-9	(Howard homers)
April 16	NY Mets	loss 0-5
April 17	NY Mets	win 7-6
April 18	at DC	loss 6-8	(10 innings)
April 19	at DC	win 3-1
April 20	at Cincinnati	win 5-3	(Howard homers)
April 21	at Cincinnati	win 6-3	(Howard homers)
April 22	at Cincinnati	win 7-2
April 24	DC	win 9-7	(12 innings, Howard homers)
April 25	DC	loss 1-4
April 26	DC	win 13-3
April 27	Florida	win 5-2
April 28	Florida	loss 4-5	(Howard homers)
April 29	Florida	loss 4-6
April 30	at Atlanta	loss 2-3

They’ll finish the month 15-11, second place in NL East. Howard will have nine home runs and 24 RBIs.

Frankly, I’m surprised the other so-called Phillies experts aren’t men enough to make their predictions public. Maybe they aren’t as smart as me, but it seems pretty obvious that the Phils will sweep that series against the Reds. But that's just me.

I’ll post how they’ll finish in May and June later. That July swoon is really going to hurt them.