The Zo Zone

The Phillies open a grueling 10-game road trip tonight in Atlanta.

This will be a good test.

They play three in Atlanta, four in San Francisco and three in Arizona. All three teams have a winning record, unlike Cincinnati, Houston, Washington and Florida -- the four teams they pounded on during their last nine games to recover from their horrible 4-11 start. Now, I hate when people say, "They've only beaten the Reds, Nationals and Marlins," because they can only beat who's on their schedule. They're supposed to beat those teams, and they did. But this upcoming trip certainly is going to be a challenge, and we'll have a better feel for how good this team is when they return to Citizens Bank Park on May 11 to play the Chicago Cubs.

The Phillies, however, enter the trip playing much better baseball and have played the Braves, Giants and Diamondbacks well in recent seasons. In fact, they have had a winning record against those teams the past two seasons.

And I don't have any sabermetric numbers to back this up, but I also get the feeling that this team is more relaxed out west. That's the sense I get when I'm in the clubhouses anyway. Maybe it's because half the team is from California or lives in Arizona and it feels like home. Maybe it's coincidence. Or maybe I'm just crazy.

Of course, they could play in Kazakhstan if Jamie Moyer and the rest of the rotation pitches like he did in yesterday's 6-1 victory over the Marlins.

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Jayson Werth had a big game for the Phillies yesterday. So did Greg Dobbs.

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Think the Phillies have problems? The Yankees finish April at 9-14.

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Some Phillies share their thoughts on the death of Josh Hancock, who played briefly with the Phillies in 2003 and 2004.

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So I hear Eagles fans aren't real happy with their team's draft. As a Packers fan, I can relate.