Phillies Haven't Been Better Since ...
The Phillies are 39-26. They haven't had a better record after their 65th game since 1993, when they were 45-20.
Phillies Haven't Been Better Since ...
Todd Zolecki
Ryan Howard watches the last of his three doubles bounce off the base of the wall in left, scoring Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino in the Phillies' sweep of the Braves. (GREGORY SMITH / Associated Press)
The Phillies haven't been better than this since 1993.
They are 39-26 after yesterday's 6-3 victory over the Phillies against the Braves at Turner Field, which ties the mark they had in 1995. But the Phillies haven't had a better record at this point in the season since '93, when they were 45-20. So how do those two teams compare? Well, the '08 Phillies have scored 344 runs and have a 3.83 ERA. They are hitting .263 with 93 home runs, .341 on-base percentage, .454 slugging percentage and .795 OPS. The '93 Phillies had scored 357 runs with a 3.37 ERA at this point. They had hit .267 with 71 home runs, .348 OBP, .437 SLG and .785 OPS.
So the '93 Phillies have put up better numbers than the '08 Phillies.
But they're both in first place.
The '93 Phillies finished 97-65.
The '08 Phillies are on pace to win 97.
It's early. It means nothing. But, hey, the numbers are at least interesting to look at. Right? Right?
*
A sweep at Turner Field? That hasn't happened since ... last season, when they swept them May 25-27.
*
In the Phillies Notebook, Adam Eaton kept the Phillies offense close. That's pretty much all he needs to do. Just keep it close enough for the offense to put some runs up on the board.
Comments (51)
It's very encouraging, but six games is significant. We're not quite on pace with the '93 team. Question: at this point in '93, what did the rest of the NL East look like? How are we in the standings compared to the '93 team at the point in the season?— chris duckworth- COOL BEANS! The Phils are playing some great baseball. I'm thrilled Eaton has been a pleasant surprise so far this season. Go Phils!— KarenA
- But the thing is, we are exactly on Pace with the '93 team. They finished with 97 victories, and we are "on pace" to finish with 97 victories. The '08 team doesn't need to follow the same in season fluctuations as the '93 team.— NeduolCaz
- Shoot.. I've got a space on my white board that I keep track of how many wins it will take to keep Jimmy's prediction this year to win 100 games. Right now, they are 61 wins away from reaching this goal. They better step it up some if they are on pace to only win 97 games. :)— roque32
- There's no arguing that this is a relentless , driven machine of a team, however, we have yet to beat a quality starter or "ace" of any staff we've played this year. Yes, we've won games but to be a truly dominating team that goes long in the postseason, we have to beat the quality pitchers. Time and time again this offense comes up short in those games. We can't keep hoping to crush the opponents bullpen into submission late in games. That only works against the lesser teams, not the true contenders.— Mark1npt
- Chris, the Phils were 45-20 on 6/17/93, 8.5 games up on the second-place Cardinals. By the way, here's a great time-waster at work: http://www.baseballrace.com/main_raceList.asp— VaPhilsPhan
- Here's hoping our starters maintain the same selfless attitude they've shown so far. It'd just be human nature at this point if Eaton and the others started to get annoyed about not getting W's for themselves when they keep the team in a game through six or more innings.— Jeffrey
- That website is cool, but I think you meant to say 8.5 up on the Expos.— Deb in Dixie
- OMG, IF Howard comes around like he has in the past dog days of summer, and everyone else stays playing just the way the are right now or better yet, just a little better, the Phils will have a shot at a 95 to dare I say it, a 100 win season. These Phillies are a great group of hustling, talented and charasmatic bunch that I have ever been bleesed to actually witness. Thats no down playing the 80 Phillies, but this group I think has bigger plans than them even!!! Hey Phils management, spend some bucks or draft picks come trading dead line and get some starting pitching help with a stud or two. THIS IS IT< DONT BLOW IT!!!!!!— macbig1011
- No, Montreal didn't move into second place for good until August.— VaPhilsPhan
- Mark1npt, they've beaten a few top of the rotation guys: Perez, Zambrano, Wolf, Lincecum, Oswalt, Hudson. Okay, a lot of those guys got ND's, but that's significant when you consider Phils' starters are leading the league in IP. Our bats are good enough to drive a few aces from the games. But I dread the day when we have to face Edinson in the post season.— phan_in_babylon
- Hey Babylon...I don't think we've "actually" beaten any of those studs, if you want to call Randy Wolf a "stud ace". Actually we've beaten all those studs bullpens...not the true guys like Webb, Peavy, Lincecum, Santana, Hudson et al....only the lesser grade pitchers, and sometimes they (Tim Redding, Paul Maholm) even hand us our lunch like little school girls.....— Mark1npt
- OMG, if Howard doesn't strike out 300 times, we'll win the division by 100 games!!!! Please, he put 1 count'em 1, good swing on the ball in yesterdays game. That was the double in the 9th off the wall. The other two were terrible swings yielding good results. Lots of luck involved there...don't get too carried away just yet.— Mark1npt
- This line-up has had its share of opportunties against the opposition's starters, but Rhyno striking out so much early on has killed a lot of potential rallies. When is he going to realize that he is a much better hitter when he goes with the pitch? His swing on that 9th inning double off the base of the wall was like butter. He really stayed on that pitch well. When he won the MVP in '06, nearly half of his homers went out the other way. He also hit over .300 that year...It will be difficult to get a stud pitcher in the middle of the season. Teams just don't unload their aces at the trading deadline, unless it's a small-market team and the ace is in his "walk" year. As far as getting a free agent ace to sign up for batting practice at CBP, good luck with that. I think management realizes that they have to get their pitchers through the farm system. Besides, this rotation is pitching pretty darn good right now. Eaton and Myers have both had some kind of epiphany and are bringing it. Kendrick and Moyer aren't pretty out there sometimes, but they both work out of trouble well. And Hamels is just nasty. Have you ever noticed how many times Cole makes the batter shake his head and take a stroll between pitches? It's quite enjoyable to watch— southpaw57
- Does anybody dare to think we can beat Scott Olsen? That "stud ace" of the fish?— Mark1npt
About this blog
The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
Matt Gelb
Inquirer Staff Writer
Bob Brookover
Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Search this blog:
Classifieds:
Site Services:
Partners:
Powered By:
