Heard in the Cheap Seats

Coming into this Phillies season, I think most fans felt pretty good about the ballclub.  The Phillies return most of the roster from the World Series Champs of last year.  Obviously, in order to win the World Series a lot of things have to break right.  But, you also have to excel in certain areas.  What I wanted to do is keep track of 7 different statistical categories that I feel are paramount to the Phillies success this season.  Each category is directly related to what I think are important questions regarding this year’s version of the Phillies.  I will be looking at these stats and tracking them on a series by series basis, starting with a look inside the opening series against the Atlanta Braves, in which the Phils came within a crappy inning’s worth of pitching by the Braves of being swept.  First, let’s take a look at the seven categories and the questions that correspond to them.

1)       Batting Avg.- I am not concerned with the Phillies lineup overall, but it will be interesting to see if players like Werth and Victorino can duplicate their success from last year to continue to make the Phils lineup one of the most potent in baseball.

2)       Hitting With Runners in Scoring Position- Can the Phillies come up big and produce in clutch situations?

3)       Starting Pitching- Assuming Hamels is healthy, the Phils have a top notch #1 starter, but after that I think there are some question marks.  Can Brett Myers, Joe Blanton, Jamie Moyer, and Chan Ho Park provide enough quality starting pitching for the Phils to make another run at the pennant?

4)       Bullpen- The bullpen was a great strength of the Phillies last season, particularly down the stretch and in the playoffs.  Will the loss of Romero for the first 50 games hurt the Phillies?  Can Lidge and Madsen come close or equal their amazing performances of last year?

5)       Hitting Versus Right Handed/Left Handed Pitching- This is one category that I will break into separate stats.  There has been a lot of talk about whether or not the Phillies can be successful with a left handed dominated lineup.  So, I will track this to see how the Phils do in this regard.

6)       Bench/Pinch Hitting- I personally have questions as to the strength of the Phillies bench.  Do the Phils have the right components on their bench to provide a lift when they need it?

There you have the stats that I will be taking a close look at throughout the season.  A lot of the Phillies overall success will be directly related to these statistics.  So, now on to a closer look at the 3 game series against the Braves in which the Phils lost 2 out of 3.

1)       Batting Avg.

 21 for 99 in the series= .212 avg.

       .319 On Base Pct. and .323 Slugging Pct.

2)       Runners in Scoring Position

6 for 30 with RISP= .200 Avg.

13 RBI

3)       Starting Pitching

0 -2

15 IP, 15 ER, 9.00 ERA, 25 H, .362 BA, 5 BB, 14 K’s, 2.00 WHIP

4)       Bullpen

1 – 0

12 IP, 4 ER, 3.00 ERA, 3H, ..077 BA, 4BB, 11 K’s, 0.58 WHIP

5)       Versus RHP

17 for 84= .202 avg.

12 runs, .313 OBP, .321 Slugging Pct.

6)       Versus LHP

4 for 15= .267 avg.

1 run, .353 OBP, .333 Slugging Pct.

7)       Bench/Pinch Hitting

2 for 8= .250 avg.

3 RBI, 2BB, 1 R

We all know the Phillies got off to a rough start, so I am not making anything out of these stats, but as the season moves along we will see if any concerning trends evolve.  The bullpen was excellent, and that is about the only positive statistic out of the group.  I won’t be surprised to see a ton of improvement against the Rockies.