Phillies Report
Trouble leaves Moyer unfazed
Jamie Moyer has been in baseball long enough to know he should forget a bad start as quickly as possible.
"You learn to let it roll off your back," he said. "If you don't, it's back-to-back [bad starts] or three in a row."
RON CORTES / Inquirer Staff Photographer
"You learn to let it roll off your back," says Jamie Moyer, shown in action against the Marlins. On Saturday, he yielded seven earned runs in four-plus innings against the Pirates.
Moyer is 11-9 with a 4.97 ERA in 25 starts, having allowed seven earned runs in four-plus innings Saturday. The performance continued what has been an interesting season for Moyer. He has pitched well, except for four bad starts:
He allowed seven earned runs in 31/3 innings against Toronto on May 19.
He allowed six earned runs in 32/3 innings at Kansas City on June 10.
He allowed 10 earned runs in 51/3 innings at Los Angeles, against the Dodgers, on July 16.
He allowed seven earned runs in four-plus innings at Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Moyer is 0-4 with a 16.53 ERA in those starts. He is 11-5 with a 3.60 ERA in his 21 others.
Howard's season
Since Ryan Howard's average hit .279 on July 22, he has hit .191, with six home runs and 18 RBIs, in 25 games. He has struck out 40 times in that stretch, in 42.6 percent of his at-bats.
But, entering yesterday's play, Howard led the National League with 99 RBIs and was third in the league with 33 home runs. He was ninth in slugging percentage at .563 and fourth in walks with 79.
Howard, who struck out 181 times last season while on his way to the National League MVP Award - the strikeouts came in 31.1 percent of his at-bats - also was leading the league with 149 strikeouts (39 percent).
He was on pace to strike out 204 times this season, which would break Adam Dunn's single-season record of 195 strikeouts, set in 2004.
Just wondering
The Phillies scored nine runs in last week's three-game series against Washington at RFK Stadium and won the series.
Pat Burrell wondered when had been the last time they had scored nine or fewer runs in a three-game series. Fortunately for Burrell - and sadly for us - we have plenty of time on our hands to look up such things.
The Phillies hadn't scored nine or fewer runs in a three-game series since Aug. 4-6 last season, against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, when they scored nine. But they hadn't won a three-game series in which they had scored nine or fewer runs since they scored eight while taking two of three from the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on May 6-8, 2005.
By the numbers
.21452
Chase Utley's RBI-opportunities percentage ranks second in baseball, according to Baseball Prospectus. The figure is the percentage of runners on base who were driven in during a batter's plate appearances.
2-30
The Phillies' record when they score three runs or less.
6.36
According to Mike's Baseball Rants (http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/), Adam Eaton could have the 10th-highest ERA in history for a pitcher with nine or more wins, if he remains on the disabled list or maintains his current pace once he returns.
30.24
The percent chance the Phillies will make the postseason, according to Baseball Prospectus. They had a 31.42 percent chance last week and a 25.19 percent chance two weeks ago.
