The Worst Against The Best
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The Worst Against The Best
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
The Phillies are 2.5 games behind the Mets with 35 to play.
Of their next 23 games, 20 are against teams that have winning records.
That doesn't bode well.
High Cheese's crack statistical department crunched some numbers this morning and discovered that the Phillies have the worst record against winning teams among all National League contenders.
Here they are, in order:
Team. . . .Rec. . . .Pct
Cubs. . . .29-21. . .580
Mets. . . .34-25. . .576
Marlins. . 30-30. . .500
Dodgers. . 28-28. . .500
Brewers. . 29-30. . .492
Cardinals. 26-28. . .482
DBacks. . .20-31. . .392
Phillies. .23-36. . .390
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In that vein, ESPN's Buster Olney did some research a couple of days ago with attempt of finding which hitters were the most successful against good pitching. Olney's definition of "good" was a starter with an ERA under 3.75 or a reliever with an ERA under 2.75.
He found Ryan Howard hit .217 with six home runs and 20 RBI in 115 at-bats against those pitchers. Find out how he compared to other hitters.
^
John Smallwood feels like the Phillies' Big Four hold the key to their fate.
here's your lineup for tonight: 1) Vic in center 2) Werth in right 3) Dobbs at first 4) Utley 5) Feliz 6) Coste 7) Bruntlett at short 8) Taguchi Give three of the big four the night off. The worst thing that happens is we lose and continue falling when the regulars get back in the lineup. The best is we win the regulars are shaken up, realizing they're playing like reserves. This is what the bench is for--to give regulars who a slumping a chance to breathe.— the_other_craig- Ugh! You must be a four-letter "insider" to read the rest of the Olney piece. You're killing me!!! I've been arguing with a friend of mine about Howard's lack of hitting in the clutch all season. His home runs rarely seem to come at a crucial time. His numbers, in my opinion, are the most overrated in baseball.— JRH13
- It doesn't look good.....we can't rely on another Mets collaspe this year. Although I would love to see it happen.— GHOSTPHAYCE
- Fundementals is all we are talking about. The Nats bunted with first and second no outs, but the Phils didn't because Oh my God why should the grat Ryan Howard bunt. But if he did they probably walk Burrell and Victorino gets his seeing eye single like he did in the ninth and the game is over with us scoring two runs. Little things like that and NO clutch hiitting (SEE ROLLINS THE INNING BEFORE THAT) is killing some great great pitching efforts. No bench is also killing them/.— Trot
- Fundementals is all we are talking about. The Nats bunted with first and second no outs, but the Phils didn't because Oh my God why should the grat Ryan Howard bunt. But if he did they probably walk Burrell and Victorino gets his seeing eye single like he did in the ninth and the game is over with us scoring two runs. Little things like that and NO clutch hiitting (SEE ROLLINS THE INNING BEFORE THAT) is killing some great great pitching efforts. No bench is also killing them/.— Trot
- that losing percentage - you should take out the combined wins and losses against the marlins and mets and see what the win percentage is. Thats what's really killing us. Besides the Marlins, Mets, and Dodgers, every other team in there we have a winning record (or are even) against this season.— kr1spy
- It is not about how they play against the Mets and Marlins (who they still have a combined 11 games against), or the other teams on that list; it is about how they play against good teams, and how many good teams remain on their schedule. Their record against winning teams is atrocious, and they only have 12 out of 35 remaining games against losing teams (all vs. Washington and Atlanta). Sure, they are 2-1 against the Cubs (in April when Chase Utley was the best player in the NL) and they were 1-1 against the Brewers (in April when the Brewers were putrid). They have four games against both of those teams remaining. They are 4-9 against the Mets, with five more to go, 5-7 against the Marlins, with six more to go, and 0-4 against the Dodgers, with four left. Their schedule is heavily stacked against them, especially if they don't start hitting, and hitting A LOT, like RIGHT NOW.— RollinsWasRight
- September could be a painful month. I hope SOMEone on this team proves otherwise...— randy_w
- kr1spy - that also includes teams like the angels and the red sox as well. and the blue jays
