Loading ...
NL East Review: Philadelphia
Written by Akshay on July 6, 2008 – 2:44 pmWell…I’ve been out of town for a couple of days and am writing this at about 3:30 in the morning while watching a movie with my cousins, so excuse me if this one sucks. The Phils deserve a good review because frankly, they’ve been the least bad team in the division this whole season. The Nats flat out stink, the Mets are severely underachieving, the Marlins are playing above and beyond their capabilities for what is supposed to about a second or third year team…but the Phils, I still can’t understand how they keep winning.
Unlike their usual selves, they got off to a decent start and did not dig the same huge hole they have over several of the past fifteen years (2003 was their last World Series appearance and their last playoff appearance before 2007). They’ve done it for the most part with what has been one guys in their rotation and a bunch of pitchers just flat out do well against the rest of the NL East. The Phillies are 8-1 against the Braves to this point, 3-3 against Washington, 3-3 against Florida and 3-5 against the Mets (as of 7.06.08, morning). How they continue to dominate the Braves and destroy the Braves, I won’t know. It just seems like the matchups that look to go in our favor go in theirs and the matchups that go in their favor are blowouts.
That said, the Phillies are a team that know how good they are but also know their shortcomings. They have one of the best offenses in the league with Jimmy Rollis, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard at the top and guys like Cole Hamels, J.C. Romero and a new Brad Lidge on the pitching staff. They have been making their noise by getting a lead to their bullpen and hoping they can keep it. Which, the bullpen has done a spectacular job of.
After 86 games played, Philly has led the National League in relievers’ ERA (2.74), had 22 saves, pitched the least amount of bullpen innings (250.0, which is understandable for a team that does not have an overworked bullpen) and been second to the Braves in batting average against at .235.
Offensively, they are second in the league in runs scored, but ranked 10 in average (.257)…hmm…how does one figure that? With runners on at all, they Phils step it up to .279, tied with Pittsburgh for the league lead. With runners in scoring position, the Phillies are hitting .272, third best in the league.
The Phillies pitching staff overall is ranked 3 in ERA (3.89), but their starters feature a 4.44 ERA, obviously not the best.
But with Philly, when they get their hits, they make them count. They are second in the league in slugging percent, meaning they get a lot of extra base hits, and obviously home runs in their park. But that’s not all, their OPS is second in the league and their On-base percentage is fourth.
Now the Phillies need what most other teams need, another solid starting pitcher. They dont know how long Adam Eaton will hold up, and the same with Jamie Moyer. Cole Hamels is a stud, but what about Kyle Kendrick and Brett Myers? Will Myers become the dominant start they think he’ll be, or will he regress into a double AA quality pitcher. That said, they are in the market for C. C. Sabathia and look to make some noise in that way.
Anyway, There’s not much more to say about the Phillies other than they have owned us the last two seasons and hopefully will slow down a little against us in the second half. They are easily a 90 win team and I think they will be the team tied with Florida for the lead at the end of the season.
Prediction: 90-72, Tied 1st
- Akshay
Tags: Philadelphia Phillies
Posted in League Analysis | Comments
