Archive: August, 2011
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Since the beginning of the 2008 season, Cliff Lee has had seven different months in which he started at least four times and had an ERA of 2.00 or less:
| Month | W-L | ERA | GS | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | SO | Avg. |
| June 2011 | 5-0 | 0.21 | 5 | 42.0 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 29 | .173 |
| August 2011 | 5-0 | 0.45 | 5 | 39.2 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 39 | .151 |
| April 2008 | 5-0 | 0.96 | 5 | 37.2 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 32 | .151 |
| June 2010 | 4-1 | 1.76 | 6 | 51.0 | 42 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 36 | .222 |
| August 2008 | 5-0 | 1.86 | 5 | 38.2 | 36 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 20 | .252 |
| Sept. 2010 | 2-1 | 1.93 | 4 | 28.0 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 24 | .189 |
| Aug. 2009 | 4-1 | 2.00 | 5 | 36.0 | 30 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 38 | .226 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Tuesday, Ryan Howard became the first Phillie to reach 100 RBI in six consecutive seasons, breaking a tie with Sam Thompson and Chuck Klein.
Noteworthy: The major-league record is 13 shared by Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Alex Rodriguez, whose streak will end this year ... The NL record (10) is held by Albert Pujols, who is 22 RBI short of extending it to 11 ... Mike Schmidt had four separate sets of back-to-back 100-RBI seasons, but never as many as three in a row.
| Yrs. | Player | Seasons | RBI Totals (in order) | |||||
| 6 | Ryan Howard | 2006-11 | 149 | 136 | 146 | 141 | 108 | 102 |
| 5 | Sam Thompson | 1892-96 | 104 | 126 | 147 | 165 | 100 | |
| 5 | Chuck Klein | 1929-33 | 145 | 170 | 121 | 137 | 120 | |
| 4 | Ed Delahanty | 1893-96 | 146 | 131 | 106 | 126 | ||
| 4 | Del Ennis | 1952-55 | 107 | 125 | 119 | 120 | ||
| 4 | Chase Utley | 2005-08 | 105 | 102 | 103 | 104 | ||
| 3 | Ed Delahanty | 1899-01 | 137 | 109 | 108 | |||
| 3 | Gavvy Cravath | 1913-15 | 128 | 100 | 115 | |||
| 3 | Pinky Whitney | 1928-30 | 103 | 115 | 117 | |||
| 3 | Bobby Abreu | 2003-05 | 101 | 105 | 102 | |||
Bob Vetrone Jr.
With his game-winning home run Monday night, Shane Victorino has now hit more home runs for the Phillies since the beginning of the 2010 season than anyone but Ryan Howard.
Those with 10 or more:
| Ryan Howard | 58 |
| Shane Victorino | 33 |
| Raul Ibanez | 32 |
| Jayson Werth | 27 |
| Chase Utley | 25 |
| Jimmy Rollins | 22 |
| John Mayberry Jr. | 14 |
| Carlos Ruiz | 13 |
| Ben Francisco | 12 |
| Placido Polanco | 10 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
If you subscribe to the theory that Cole Hamels' start Monday could be the most important of his season (as he is coming back from shoulder soreness), then they couldn't have put him on the mound in front of a better team.
He has, quite simply, owned the Reds in his career.
Including the 2010 playoffs and his one appearance against earlier this season (at right), he is 8-0, 1.23 in nine starts and has held them to a .168 batting average:
| Record | 8-0 |
| ERA | 1.23 |
| Starts | 9 |
| CG / Shutouts | 3 / 2 |
| Innings | 65.2 |
| Hits | 38 |
| Runs / Earned | 10 / 9 |
| Home Runs | 5 |
| Walks | 20 |
| Strikeouts | 55 |
| Batting Avg. | .168 |
| On-Base Pct. | .247 |
| Slugging Pct. | .288 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
For just the third time in his 11-year career, Roy Oswalt has lost more than one game in the same month after July 31.
His year-by-year records in August and September/October.
| Season | August | Sept./Oct. |
| 2001 | 4-0 | 2-1 |
| 2002 | 6-0 | 2-3 |
| 2003 | 0-0 | 4-0 |
| 2004 | 5-1 | 5-1 |
| 2005 | 1-3 | 5-1 |
| 2006 | 2-1 | 5-0 |
| 2007 | 4-0 | 0-1 |
| 2008 | 4-1 | 5-1 |
| 2009 | 2-1 | 0-1 |
| 2010 | 3-0 | 4-0 |
| 2011 | 2-2 | — |
| Totals | 33-9 | 32-9 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Since Phillies pitchers managed to hit .375 in the Mets series, we thought we'd take this time to see how the team's hurlers are doing at the dish this season.
Among the highlights: Vance Worley (shown lacing an RBI single Tuesday) leads the way with a .229 average, Cliff Lee has four extra-base hits and a slugging percentage higher than Placido Polanco; and Roy Halladay has laid down 13 successful sacrifices.
Their season totals, which include three pinch-hitting appearances:
| Pitcher | AB | R | H | XBH | RBI | SH | BB | SO | Avg. | OBA | Slg. |
| Vance Worley | 35 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 | .229 | .229 | .257 |
| Kyle Kendrick | 22 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 8 | .227 | .261 | .227 |
| Cliff Lee | 59 | 4 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 22 | .220 | .230 | .356 |
| Joe Blanton | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .200 | .200 | .200 |
| Cole Hamels | 55 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 25 | .145 | .175 | .182 |
| Roy Oswalt | 24 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 9 | .125 | .222 | .125 |
| Roy Halladay | 58 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 30 | .103 | .133 | .121 |
| David Herndon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Michael Schwimer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Totals | 267 | 16 | 45 | 7 | 15 | 30 | 9 | 112 | .169 | .196 | .213 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Although there is still a ways to go before Jimmy Rollins' return, Wilson Valdez and Michael Martinez are filling in nicely at the plate so far in his sted.
Rollins' replacements have a hit in seven of the nine games he has not started this season and are batting .290. The Phils are 6-3 in those contests.
A game-by-game look (*indicates two starts by Martinez, others are by Valdez):
| Date | Opponent | Result | AB | R | H | BI | Also |
| May 26 | *Reds | W 10-4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2B, SF |
| June 1 | at Nationals | L 1-2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| June 5 | at Pirates | W 7-3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | IBB |
| June 6 | Dodgers | W 3-1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2B, K |
| June 7 | Dodgers | L 2-6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| June 8 | Dodgers | W 2-0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | K, K |
| Aug. 22 | Mets | W 10-0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | IBB |
| Aug. 23 | Mets | W 9-4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2B, SF, K |
| Aug. 24 | *Mets | L 4-7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | K |
| Totals | (6-3) | 31 | 5 | 9 | 4 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Only two other qualifying Phillies 5-foot-9 or under have ever come close to producing the slugging percentage (.551) that Shane Victorino has posted so far this season.
(And special thanks to the play index at baseball-reference.com, which allows users to use height as a variable in a search. Is this a great Internet or what!?)
| George Harper | Shane Victorino | Jimmy Rollins | |
| Position | OF | CF | SS |
| Height | 5-8 | 5-9 | 5-8 |
| Season | 1925 | 2011 | 2007 |
| Slugging Pct. | .558 | .551 | .531 |
| Batting Avg. | .349 | .314 | .296 |
| Hits-AB | 173-495 | 121-385 | 212-716 |
| Singles | 113 | 72 | 124 |
| Doubles | 35 | 21 | 38 |
| Triples | 7 | 14 | 20 |
| Home Runs | 18 | 14 | 30 |
| Total Bases | 276 | 212 | 380 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
By being the first major league team to 82 victories, the Phillies will finish their ninth consecutive season with a record over .500. Only the Yankees (18 and counting) and the Red Sox (13 and counting) currently have more. And no one else is even close.
In fact, only six major league teams entered 2010 with a streak of three or more working:
| Team | Yrs. | 2011 | Seasons | Last Non-Winning Yr. |
| Yankees | 18 | 77-48 | 1993-2010 | 1992 (76-46) |
| Red Sox | 13 | 77-50 | 1998-2010 | 1997 (78-84) |
| Phillies | 9 | 82-44 | 2003-2011 | 2002 (80-81) |
| Rays | 3 | 69-57 | 2008-2010 | 2007 (66-96) |
| Twins | 3 | 55-72 | 2008-2010 | 2007 (79-83) |
| Cardinals | 3 | 67-61 | 2008-2010 | 2007 (78-84) |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Even though they lost two of three to the Nationals this weekend and are 4-4 over the last eight games, the Phillies' record (81-44) is still outstanding.
Here is what they would need to do down the stretch to match some significant 162-game marks:
| Record | Need To Go | |
| Phillies 1980 World Series Champions | 91-71 | 10-27 |
| Phillies 2008 World Series Champions | 92-70 | 11-26 |
| Phillies 2010 Record | 97-65 | 16-21 |
| Last NL Team with 100 Wins (2005 Cardinals) | 100-62 | 19-18 |
| Phillies Most Wins in a Season (1977,1978) | 101-61 | 20-17 |
| Most Wins MLB Since 2004 (2009 Yankees) | 103-59 | 22-15 |
| Most Wins MLB Since 2001 (2004 Cardinals) | 105-57 | 24-13 |
| Most Wins NL Since 1987 (1998 Braves) | 106-56 | 25-12 |
| 1986 Mets, 1975 Reds | 108-54 | 27-10 |
| 1998 Yankees | 114-48 | 33- 4 |
| 2001 Mariners | 116-46 | 35- 2 |
