Noah Feingold
05-23-2011, 03:45 PM
The Phillies Report
28-18
1st in NL East
Well, it seems the Phillies have finally showed that they are human. In their last 9 games, the Phillies are 3-6. They also haven’t scored over 3 runs in a game in this span. This may be the first real cause for concern for the Phillies. The pitching of the Phillies continues to absolutely dominate, but now they are losing some games when the pitching is absolutely stellar.
Halladay has seen some bad luck too in his last 3 starts. Despite allowing an average of 2 ER in these games, he has 2 losses in them. He could be 0-3 in his last 3 starts if Ben Francisco didn’t finally do something at the plate hitting a 2-run HR off C.J. Wilson.
With Victorino now on the 15 day DL, it seems the Phillies may struggle even more to score. In their last game (when they lost 2-0 to the Rangers, Oswalt pitched great, 1 run over 7 innings) the highest average of any Philly not named Polanco was .262 for Rollins. No one else was over .250.
The Phillies are really struggling to drive in runs. There is the old saying pitching and defense win championships. Unfortunately for the Phillies, there is another side to this saying. You can’t win if you don’t score any runs. The Phillies don’t need to score that many runs either. If the Phillies had scored 4 runs in each game so far in May, they would be 13-4-3 (3 ties since they have allowed 4 runs, 3 times). This is instead of the 10-10 that they are in May. The issue here is that 4 runs aren’t that many runs to score in a game, the league average this year is 4.2 R/G. In the last 9 games, the Phillies have averaged fewer than 2 Runs per game (1.67). They have gone from a very reasonable 4.35 Runs per game, to 3.82 Runs per game. 4.35 would be good for 11th in the majors, the 3.82 Runs per game that the Phillies have fallen to is good for 23rd in the majors. To add insult to injury, the Phillies are now behind the Nationals in Runs per game.
The Phillies have the pitching to win a World Series, but they need their offense to be at least average. In the past 9 games, there offense has been historically bad. One thing that should help is getting some stability back in their lineup. Guys like Francisco, Mayberry and Valdez are much more suited to be role players on the Phillies. Getting Victorino, Utley and Domonic Brown producing for the Phillies should help this. Francisco, Mayberry and Valdez are great guys to have to fill in for bits and pieces, but I don’t want Francisco protecting Ryan Howard, and I don’t want Valdez batting 2nd in the lineup.
The real question going forward is what Utley and Brown will be able to do in the majors. Brown has struggled in his opportunities in the majors, and Utley likely won’t be at 100%. Still, I’d take an unhealthy Utley over almost any other 2nd baseman in the majors, and we all know Brown has incredible talent.
The Phillies have the pieces to have a very strong offense; the key will be getting them on the field at the same time.
The Good:
The pitching remains outstanding.
Ryan Madson has been lights out in the closer role (1 ER in 19 innings so far this year).
Utley is making progress and should be making his debut sooner than most expected.
The Phillies are still in 1st.
The Phillies have 4 games coming up with the Reds, but after that their schedule gets easier (Mets, Pirates and Nationals)
The Bad:
The offense
The offense
The offense
The Strange:
Halladay is tied for the major league lead in wins, and he could easily have 2 more.
The teams’ pitching has actually been better in May (2.79 ERA vs. 3.18)
The teams pitching has actually been best in their last 8 games when they are 3-5 (2.47 ERA)
Raul Ibanez is leading the team in hitting in May with a .324 BA. He also has 3 HRs (Howard has 4).
28-18
1st in NL East
Well, it seems the Phillies have finally showed that they are human. In their last 9 games, the Phillies are 3-6. They also haven’t scored over 3 runs in a game in this span. This may be the first real cause for concern for the Phillies. The pitching of the Phillies continues to absolutely dominate, but now they are losing some games when the pitching is absolutely stellar.
Halladay has seen some bad luck too in his last 3 starts. Despite allowing an average of 2 ER in these games, he has 2 losses in them. He could be 0-3 in his last 3 starts if Ben Francisco didn’t finally do something at the plate hitting a 2-run HR off C.J. Wilson.
With Victorino now on the 15 day DL, it seems the Phillies may struggle even more to score. In their last game (when they lost 2-0 to the Rangers, Oswalt pitched great, 1 run over 7 innings) the highest average of any Philly not named Polanco was .262 for Rollins. No one else was over .250.
The Phillies are really struggling to drive in runs. There is the old saying pitching and defense win championships. Unfortunately for the Phillies, there is another side to this saying. You can’t win if you don’t score any runs. The Phillies don’t need to score that many runs either. If the Phillies had scored 4 runs in each game so far in May, they would be 13-4-3 (3 ties since they have allowed 4 runs, 3 times). This is instead of the 10-10 that they are in May. The issue here is that 4 runs aren’t that many runs to score in a game, the league average this year is 4.2 R/G. In the last 9 games, the Phillies have averaged fewer than 2 Runs per game (1.67). They have gone from a very reasonable 4.35 Runs per game, to 3.82 Runs per game. 4.35 would be good for 11th in the majors, the 3.82 Runs per game that the Phillies have fallen to is good for 23rd in the majors. To add insult to injury, the Phillies are now behind the Nationals in Runs per game.
The Phillies have the pitching to win a World Series, but they need their offense to be at least average. In the past 9 games, there offense has been historically bad. One thing that should help is getting some stability back in their lineup. Guys like Francisco, Mayberry and Valdez are much more suited to be role players on the Phillies. Getting Victorino, Utley and Domonic Brown producing for the Phillies should help this. Francisco, Mayberry and Valdez are great guys to have to fill in for bits and pieces, but I don’t want Francisco protecting Ryan Howard, and I don’t want Valdez batting 2nd in the lineup.
The real question going forward is what Utley and Brown will be able to do in the majors. Brown has struggled in his opportunities in the majors, and Utley likely won’t be at 100%. Still, I’d take an unhealthy Utley over almost any other 2nd baseman in the majors, and we all know Brown has incredible talent.
The Phillies have the pieces to have a very strong offense; the key will be getting them on the field at the same time.
The Good:
The pitching remains outstanding.
Ryan Madson has been lights out in the closer role (1 ER in 19 innings so far this year).
Utley is making progress and should be making his debut sooner than most expected.
The Phillies are still in 1st.
The Phillies have 4 games coming up with the Reds, but after that their schedule gets easier (Mets, Pirates and Nationals)
The Bad:
The offense
The offense
The offense
The Strange:
Halladay is tied for the major league lead in wins, and he could easily have 2 more.
The teams’ pitching has actually been better in May (2.79 ERA vs. 3.18)
The teams pitching has actually been best in their last 8 games when they are 3-5 (2.47 ERA)
Raul Ibanez is leading the team in hitting in May with a .324 BA. He also has 3 HRs (Howard has 4).