33-year old lefty Cliff Lee was awesome in his return to the Phillies in 2011. The result was that he finished 3rd in the voting for the N.L. Cy Young Award in 2011. Lee pitched in 32 games (all starts) for the Phillies last year and he was 17-8 with a 2.40 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. He has now pitched in 254 games (250 starts) in his first 10 years in the majors and he is 119-69 with a 3.65 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. Lee seems to keep getting better with age and that has to scare the rest of the N.L. East.

UPDATE: (11/23/2011) - Cliff Lee finished 15th in the voting for the N.L. MVP Award yesterday.

27-year old lefty starting pitcher Cole Hamels finished 5th in the voting for the N.L. Cy Young Award. Hamels pitched in 32 games (31 starts) for the Phillies last year and he was 14-9 with a 2.70 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP. He has now pitched in 181 games (180 starts) in his first six years with the Phillies and he is 74-54 with a 3.39 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. Hamels has the potential to win the Cy Young Award but he has to outpitch Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee on his own pitching staff first to do that.

67-year old Charlie Manuel finished in 4th place in the voting for the N.L. Manager of the Year Award in 2011. The Phillies won the N.L. East with a 102-60 record (63%) in 2011. Manuel now has a 866-678 (56.1%) record in his first 10 years as a manager in the major leagues. Manuel was punished in the voting because the Phillies have essentially turned into the National League version of the Yankees, so success is expected.

24-year old righty starting pitcher Vance Worley finished in 3rd place in the voting for the N.L. Rookie of the Year. He pitched in 25 games (21 starts) for the Phillies last year and he was 11-3 with a 3.01 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. Worley has now pitched in 30 games (23 starts) in his first two years with the Phillies and he is 12-4 with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Worley was a lifesaver for the Phillies last season when Roy Oswalt when down to injury. He will likely have the inside track to the #5 spot in the rotation next spring for the Phillies.

31-year old righty swinging catcher Carlos Ruiz finished in a tie for 17th in the voting for the N.L. MVP Award with 2B Dan Uggla of the Marlins and starting pitcher Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals. Ruiz played in 121 games for the Phillies last season and he was 112 of 371 (.302 avg, .847 OPS) with 43 runs scored, 8 homers and 53 RBIs. He has now played in 487 games in his first five years with the Phillies and he is 379 of 1,456 (.260 avg, .749 OPS) with 169 runs scored, 30 homers, 191 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Ruiz’ hitting is starting to catch up with his defense which should be scary for the rest of the N.L.