Archive: August, 2011
Bob Vetrone Jr.
When last we left Roy Halladay, he was suffering the first loss of his career in which he was pitching with a lead in the ninth inning. Shortly thereafter, Phillies nation was aghast at his 7.74 ERA in his 2011 ninth innings.
Now, because baseball-reference has it so easily available, we present his inning-by-inning career ERA and opponet's batting average. Note that his second and ninth innings have by far the best ERA:
| Inning | ERA | Opp. BA |
| 1st | 3.67 | .271 |
| 2nd | 2.48 | .227 |
| 3rd | 3.80 | .267 |
| 4th | 3.11 | .255 |
| 5th | 3.10 | .235 |
| 6th | 3.15 | .243 |
| 7th | 3.74 | .277 |
| 8th | 3.38 | .251 |
| 9th | 2.52 | .246 |
| Extra | 4.50 | .333 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Having the bats show up for just one inning — even a very good inning — is rarely enough to win in major league baseball.
The Phillies proved that last night when the lead they were staked to during a four-run third inning was teetering all night and went "tilt" on a Ryan Zimmerman walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning.
During the Phillies' third inning, they went 5-for-6 with runners in scoring position (yet only scored four runs) and actually had only one batter put out; the other two outs were on runners already on base.
Bob Vetrone Jr.
A few weeks back, a commenter suggested looking at John Mayberry's numbers projected out to the same number of plate appearances that Ryan Howard had. Since Howard sat out Thursday with a cramped hand and Mayberry homered (seen rounding the bases at left), we thought this was as good a time as any.
And, as it turns out, Mayberry's projected numbers are very close to the stats that Howard has actually put up. More than anything, that tells us it just might be time to give JM Jr. a chance to validate those projections.
| Mayberry | Mayberry | Howard | |
| Actual | Projected | Actual | |
| Plate App. | 194 | 519 | 519 |
| At-Bats | 179 | 479 | 451 |
| Runs | 22 | 59 | 66 |
| Hits | 47 | 126 | 115 |
| Doubles | 13 | 35 | 36 |
| Triples | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Home Runs | 10 | 27 | 26 |
| RBI | 34 | 91 | 95 |
| Walks | 13 | 35 | 57 |
| Strikeouts | 38 | 102 | 135 |
| Batting Avg. | .263 | .263 | .255 |
| Slugging Pct. | .503 | .505 | .490 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
The Eagles defense registered six sacks in last Thursday’s preseason opener against Baltimore. (Darryl Tapp is shown at right getting one of his two.) That is the second-most the Birds have registered in an exhibition game since 2000. (They had seven — also against the Ravens — in a 2006 preseason tilt.)
Yes, we know it was only a preseason game, but six sacks is six sacks. And since the Eagles tend to accumulate more sacks per game in the regular season than the preseason (which they have done eight times in the last 11 years), it bodes well for them to keep up the pressure.
The Birds' defensive sacks per game since 2000:
| Year | Preseason | Regular |
| 2000 | 1.00 | 3.13 |
| 2001 | 3.00 | 2.81 |
| 2002 | 1.75 | 3.50 |
| 2003 | 1.00 | 2.38 |
| 2004 | 2.25 | 2.94 |
| 2005 | 2.25 | 1.81 |
| 2006 | 4.20 | 2.50 |
| 2007 | 2.25 | 2.31 |
| 2008 | 2.50 | 3.00 |
| 2009 | 1.50 | 2.75 |
| 2010 | 1.50 | 2.44 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Maybe the Vanimal should only come out at night.
The Phillies' Vance Worley has started just 16 games in his major-league career, but he seems to be much more effective when he takes to the mound later in the day rather than in an afternoon game (as he is shown above, taking on the Pirates on Sunday, July 31).
His career breakdown in starts:
| Local Start Time | W-L | ERA | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO |
| Before 4 p.m. | 1-2 | 6.23 | 5 | 26.0 | 36 | 21 | 18 | 3 | 6 | 26 |
| After 4 p.m. | 7-0 | 1.44 | 11 | 68.1 | 40 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 26 | 51 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Roy Halladay has pitched into the ninth inning six times this season, and not all have gone smoothly.
He has allowed 12 hits in those six innings and has an ERA of 7.74. That is in direct contrast to last season, when he allowed just four hits and one earned run in nine trips into the ninth.
His 2011 ninth-inning performances along with his 2010 ninth-inning totals:
| Date | Opponent | Score | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| April 13 | at Nationals | Up 3-0 | 1.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| April 24 | at Padres | Up 3-0 | 0.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| April 30 | Mets | Up 2-1 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| June 26 | Athletics | Up 3-1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| July 2 | at Blue Jays | Up 5-3 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Aug. 16 | Diamondbacks | Up 2-1 | 1.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 2011 Totals | (ERA: 7.74) | 5.2 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 7 | |
| 2010 Totals | (ERA: 1.00) | 9.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
It is not a stretch to say that, even though he hasn’t played a game for them in over six years, Jim Thome had a lot to do with the transition of the Phillies from “sometimes-rans” to the perennial NL power they have become.
So, since he launched his 599th and 600th career home runs Monday, we thought we’d take a statistical look at his career, from a Phillies perspective:
♦ He played just 2½ seasons for the Phillies, but is 24th on their all-time home run list (96).
Bob Vetrone Jr.
It turns out the key to using Citizens Bank Park as an advantage is not hitting home runs, but preventing them.
The Phillies' pitching staff is on a pace to allow just 49 home runs at Citizens Bank Park. That would be 31 fewer than they have allowed in any of the previous seven seasons at the Bank.
Over the first four years of CBP, the Phils were outhomered at home by 33 home runs. In the three-plus seasons since, they have outclubbed the visitors by 66.
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Sunday, Roy Halladay had been scheduled to take his 11-1 career record vs. the Nationals to the mound against them at Citizens Bank Park. Saturday, Washington's John Lannan saw his career mark against the Phils drop to 1-11.
The career numbers:
| Halladay | Lannan | |
| vs. Nationals | vs. Phillies | |
| W-L | 11-1 | 1-11 |
| ERA | 2.21 | 5.84 |
| G/GS | 15/14 | 15/15 |
| CG | 2 | 0 |
| Shutouts | 1 | 0 |
| Innings | 105.2 | 74 |
| Hits | 88 | 94 |
| Runs | 28 | 62 |
| Earned Runs | 26 | 48 |
| Home Runs | 9 | 16 |
| Walks | 15 | 35 |
| Strikeouts | 88 | 41 |
| Walks+Hits/IP | 0.98 | 1.74 |
| Opp. Batting Avg. | .227 | .312 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Friday, Charlie Manuel became the 12th active major league manager to reach 1,500 games. Had the Phillies won (they lost to the Nationals, 4-2), he would have had the best winning percentage among those 12. Instead, Davey Johnson — who just happens to be in the opposing dugout this weekend — moved ahead of Manuel by .0005 of a percentage point.
Those 12 managers and their records through Friday (ties included in games, but not figured in winning percentage):
| Manager | Current Club | G | W | L | Pct. |
| Davey Johnson | Nationals | 2078 | 1165 | 911 | .5612 |
| Charlie Manuel | Phillies | 1500 | 841 | 659 | .5607 |
| Mike Scioscia | Angels | 1901 | 1045 | 856 | .549 |
| Ron Gardenhire | Twins | 1577 | 855 | 722 | .542 |
| Tony LaRussa | Cardinals | 5054 | 2702 | 2348 | .535 |
| Terry Francona | Red Sox | 1899 | 1012 | 887 | .533 |
| Dusty Baker | Reds | 2809 | 1463 | 1345 | .521 |
| Jack McKeon | Marlins | 1998 | 1035 | 962 | .518 |
| Buck Showalter | Orioles | 1889 | 961 | 927 | .509 |
| Jim Tracy | Rockies | 1532 | 774 | 758 | .506 |
| Jim Leyland | Tigers | 3131 | 1556 | 1573 | .4973 |
| Bruce Bochy | Giants | 2693 | 1338 | 1354 | .4970 |
