Hello! I'm in Denver. Flight was good. People looked up after we landed and hadn't even realized there was a baby on the plane. we'll see how the return flight goes. Rox games are all crazy to watch.
Nice to see 2 straight 7 run games. EV comin up! Talk to you clowns later.
should have been a sweep. i'll take a 5-2 start to the homestand though. :thumbup:
nice to see the heart of the lineup rip the ball all day.
this team is gonna be fine. people really need to relax. sooner or later these guys will at least approach their career averages. and when they do, look out.
should have been a sweep. i'll take a 5-2 start to the homestand though. :thumbup:
nice to see the heart of the lineup rip the ball all day.
this team is gonna be fine. people really need to relax. sooner or later these guys will at least approach their career averages. and when they do, look out.
go. phils.
+1 :thumbup:
8/28/98- Camden, NJ
10/31/09- Philly
5/21/10- NYC
9/2/12- Philly, PA
7/19/13- Wrigley
10/19/13- Brooklyn, NY
10/21/13- Philly, PA
10/22/13- Philly, PA
10/27/13- Baltimore, MD
4/28/16- Philly, PA
4/29/16- Philly, PA
5/1/16- NYC
5/2/16- NYC
9/2/18- Boston, MA
9/4/18- Boston, MA
9/14/22- Camden, NJ
9/7/24- Philly, PA
9/9/24- Philly, PA
Tres Mts.- 3/23/11- Philly. PA
Eddie Vedder- 6/25/11- Philly, PA
RNDM- 3/9/16- Philly, PA
When Philadelphia Phillies fans penciled Cliff Lee in as their No. 2 starter, they imagined a dominant control pitcher who doesn't blow hitters away but keeps runs off the board. A superficial glance at his 2011 numbers shows a mediocre 5-5 record with an ERA of 3.62 -- respectable numbers, but mildly disappointing from a pitcher billed as one of the league's best. A deeper look reveals an interesting contrast in the lefty's past two seasons.
Lee's 10.3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 2010 was the second-highest in history among qualified starters, behind only Bret Saberhagen's 11.0 in the strike-shortened 1994 season. His 18 walks in 212 1/3 innings gave Lee one of the lowest walk rates in history, while his strikeout rate of 7.8 per nine innings was hardly better than the league average (7.1).
This year, Lee has become a strikeout machine. The Phillies' veteran lefty has whiffed a league-leading 10.3 batters per nine innings this year. Meanwhile, he had walked more batters before the beginning of June (19) than he did all of last season (18), even though his walk rate of 2.0 free passes per nine innings is still comfortably below the league average (3.3).
Strike breakdown
Cliff Lee is throwing fewer first-pitch strikes this season, but he's producing swinging strikes at a higher rate.
What made Lee so successful last year? As you might expect, he throws a lot of strikes, and he throws them early in the count. Lee led all pitchers with 56.6 percent of his pitches thrown in the strike zone in 2010; he also leads this year with 54.9 percent. He also finished first among all pitchers by throwing 69.8 percent first-pitch strikes last year, while he's dropped off to a less spectacular 63.8 percent in 2011.
Lee has also induced swinging strikes at a career-best rate in 2011, nearly two full percentage points higher than last season's rate. This may be due to an increased use of a cut fastball; according to Baseball Info Solutions' data, Lee has increased his cutter usage a few percentage points as well.
Interestingly, Lee doesn't hit the catcher's target as often as you might expect. When Baseball Info Solutions video scouts chart pitches, they also chart the location of the catcher's target before the pitch is thrown. The average MLB pitcher can hit within 40 pixels of the catcher's target about a quarter of the time (26 percent). At 25 percent, Lee is right in line with the league average.
Lee's rising walk and strikeout rates should balance each other out to some extent, or even suggest improvement, so we still haven't explained why he has a higher ERA this season. For that, the Philadelphia defense should be held accountable.
Pitching for the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers last season, Lee benefited from two of the better defenses in baseball. Philadelphia was the cream of the crop defensively as recently as 2008, and had still been good in the seasons since, thanks to Fielding Bible darlings Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Placido Polanco and Chase Utley. However, Father Time has finally caught up with the Phillies' lineup, as has the injury bug. With many of the starting position players spending time on the disabled list, the replacements have struggled to fill their enormous shoes defensively.
This season, the Phillies' infield has a collective minus-35 runs saved through the second week of June. This means the Phillies' defense has cost the team an estimated 35 runs, equivalent to roughly 3-4 wins in the standings. The main culprit has been Jimmy Rollins, whose minus-10 runs saved rate as the second-worst for a shortstop in baseball this year. Clearly, the 32-year-old former Fielding Bible Award winner has lost a step or two.
Wilson Valdez was the primary second baseman with 2010 Fielding Bible Award winner Chase Utley rehabbing an injury, but despite his defensive reputation, Valdez (minus-9 runs saved) struggled in a small sample of games at the position. While Ryan Howard (minus-7 runs saved) has never been a good or even average defensive first baseman, Placido Polanco (minus-5 runs saved) has not played his best defense yet this year, either.
The good news for Lee is that Utley is back in the starting lineup. A healthy Utley should provide a much-needed defensive boost, and we should see some improvement from Rollins and Polanco. However, Lee still shouldn't expect the same level of defensive support he received last year in the American League.
If Lee continues to strike out opposing hitters at his current league-leading, career-high pace, he will minimize the damage the aging Philadelphia defense can impart. Should his strikeout rate fall back to his career levels, he will have a hard time repeating his Cy Young-caliber totals of the past few seasons.
Good comeback,this team has character!!!!R6 was killer today!!!
another good game like today and he will have that average over 250!! he's awesome!!!!
He won the game practically by himself. All against lefties I believe.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Good comeback,this team has character!!!!R6 was killer today!!!
another good game like today and he will have that average over 250!! he's awesome!!!!
He won the game practically by himself. All against lefties I believe.
I hope you're joking with your first sentence. Sure he had a good game, but let's not get carried away. Hopefully we won't have to wait another week for him to have a good game. That seems to be the trend so far this season.
He finally found a lefty he could hit. A 35 year old washed up scrub with cancer.
more willingham rumors. he's my second choice after beltran...he'd be ideal
Ruben Amaro again says the Phillies will make no moves -- and as Bob Brookover writes, his veracity track record on these kind of things is checkered. Several rival talent evaluators speculated this week that Josh Willingham of Oakland would be a perfect fit for the Phillies because he's right-handed, he's experienced in the National League and he could provide some protection for Ryan Howard when the Phillies face left-handed pitching. We'll see.
more willingham rumors. he's my second choice after beltran...he'd be ideal
Ruben Amaro again says the Phillies will make no moves -- and as Bob Brookover writes, his veracity track record on these kind of things is checkered. Several rival talent evaluators speculated this week that Josh Willingham of Oakland would be a perfect fit for the Phillies because he's right-handed, he's experienced in the National League and he could provide some protection for Ryan Howard when the Phillies face left-handed pitching. We'll see.
i kind of agree with jp that if they add someone it might not be a big move like that.
brookover's article today talks about how they have the best record in baseball right now but could be even better without making a move like that.
luckily we've still got a month and a half to evaluate before the deadline though...
more willingham rumors. he's my second choice after beltran...he'd be ideal
Ruben Amaro again says the Phillies will make no moves -- and as Bob Brookover writes, his veracity track record on these kind of things is checkered. Several rival talent evaluators speculated this week that Josh Willingham of Oakland would be a perfect fit for the Phillies because he's right-handed, he's experienced in the National League and he could provide some protection for Ryan Howard when the Phillies face left-handed pitching. We'll see.
i kind of agree with jp that if they add someone it might not be a big move like that.
brookover's article today talks about how they have the best record in baseball right now but could be even better without making a move like that.
luckily we've still got a month and a half to evaluate before the deadline though...
the luxury tax threshold is the key. I don't see them going to that level either.
blanton being hurt is really killing them. if he was even average this year they could probably find someone to take him. then, there are the other horrible contracts (lidge, ibanez, howard) that could prohibit them from doing anything substantial.
who knows though? I never thought their payroll would reach the current level. maybe they will bite the bullet and pay the luxury tax for a few months.
yeah i agree with you about blanton...and i know it's not my money but fuck it. if it takes paying the luxury tax for a few months to put them over the top, then do it.
that said, i just look at it like the phils have always, always, been a 2nd half team with this regime. they've got the best record in baseball in mid june despite not hitting the ball like they can. if these guys even approach their career averages, with this rotation and back end of the bullpen, they can beat anybody.
yeah i agree with you about blanton...and i know it's not my money but fuck it. if it takes paying the luxury tax for a few months to put them over the top, then do it.
that said, i just look at it like the phils have always, always, been a 2nd half team with this regime. they've got the best record in baseball in mid june despite not hitting the ball like they can. if these guys even approach their career averages, with this rotation and back end of the bullpen, they can beat anybody.
yeah, we'll see what happens. like you said, the good thing is they still have plenty of time to upgrade the lineup.
I think the bullpen is an issue as well. How many relievers do you consistently trust in a big playoff spot? I'd say one...madson.
yeah i agree with you about blanton...and i know it's not my money but fuck it. if it takes paying the luxury tax for a few months to put them over the top, then do it.
that said, i just look at it like the phils have always, always, been a 2nd half team with this regime. they've got the best record in baseball in mid june despite not hitting the ball like they can. if these guys even approach their career averages, with this rotation and back end of the bullpen, they can beat anybody.
yeah, we'll see what happens. like you said, the good thing is they still have plenty of time to upgrade the lineup.
I think the bullpen is an issue as well. How many relievers do you consistently trust in a big playoff spot? I'd say one...madson.
i'm not concerned about the bullpen too much just because of the rotation. madson, bastard, stutes, and contreras (assuming he straightens things out)--i'm all okay with right now. with any luck lidge gives you something. gotta add another lefty at some point. but i'm good with the backend of the bullpen.
Comments
that john denver was full of shit...
is coors a good place to see a game?
the cubs might be the worst team in the NL. they really, really suck
this lineup is worse than the EV album
don't worry, contreras or romero will allow a few runs.
nice to see the heart of the lineup rip the ball all day.
this team is gonna be fine. people really need to relax. sooner or later these guys will at least approach their career averages. and when they do, look out.
go. phils.
10/31/09- Philly
5/21/10- NYC
9/2/12- Philly, PA
7/19/13- Wrigley
10/19/13- Brooklyn, NY
10/21/13- Philly, PA
10/22/13- Philly, PA
10/27/13- Baltimore, MD
4/28/16- Philly, PA
4/29/16- Philly, PA
5/1/16- NYC
5/2/16- NYC
9/2/18- Boston, MA
9/4/18- Boston, MA
9/14/22- Camden, NJ
9/7/24- Philly, PA
9/9/24- Philly, PA
Eddie Vedder- 6/25/11- Philly, PA
RNDM- 3/9/16- Philly, PA
another good game like today and he will have that average over 250!! he's awesome!!!!
Lee's 10.3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 2010 was the second-highest in history among qualified starters, behind only Bret Saberhagen's 11.0 in the strike-shortened 1994 season. His 18 walks in 212 1/3 innings gave Lee one of the lowest walk rates in history, while his strikeout rate of 7.8 per nine innings was hardly better than the league average (7.1).
This year, Lee has become a strikeout machine. The Phillies' veteran lefty has whiffed a league-leading 10.3 batters per nine innings this year. Meanwhile, he had walked more batters before the beginning of June (19) than he did all of last season (18), even though his walk rate of 2.0 free passes per nine innings is still comfortably below the league average (3.3).
Strike breakdown
Cliff Lee is throwing fewer first-pitch strikes this season, but he's producing swinging strikes at a higher rate.
Season First Pitch Strike Swinging Strikes / All Strikes
2004 60.0% 8.9%
2005 63.8% 7.1%
2006 62.1% 7.2%
2007 61.9% 7.2%
2008 66.6% 8.1%
2009 65.4% 8.0%
2010 69.8% 8.2%
2011 63.8% 10.0%
What made Lee so successful last year? As you might expect, he throws a lot of strikes, and he throws them early in the count. Lee led all pitchers with 56.6 percent of his pitches thrown in the strike zone in 2010; he also leads this year with 54.9 percent. He also finished first among all pitchers by throwing 69.8 percent first-pitch strikes last year, while he's dropped off to a less spectacular 63.8 percent in 2011.
Lee has also induced swinging strikes at a career-best rate in 2011, nearly two full percentage points higher than last season's rate. This may be due to an increased use of a cut fastball; according to Baseball Info Solutions' data, Lee has increased his cutter usage a few percentage points as well.
Interestingly, Lee doesn't hit the catcher's target as often as you might expect. When Baseball Info Solutions video scouts chart pitches, they also chart the location of the catcher's target before the pitch is thrown. The average MLB pitcher can hit within 40 pixels of the catcher's target about a quarter of the time (26 percent). At 25 percent, Lee is right in line with the league average.
Lee's rising walk and strikeout rates should balance each other out to some extent, or even suggest improvement, so we still haven't explained why he has a higher ERA this season. For that, the Philadelphia defense should be held accountable.
Pitching for the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers last season, Lee benefited from two of the better defenses in baseball. Philadelphia was the cream of the crop defensively as recently as 2008, and had still been good in the seasons since, thanks to Fielding Bible darlings Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Placido Polanco and Chase Utley. However, Father Time has finally caught up with the Phillies' lineup, as has the injury bug. With many of the starting position players spending time on the disabled list, the replacements have struggled to fill their enormous shoes defensively.
This season, the Phillies' infield has a collective minus-35 runs saved through the second week of June. This means the Phillies' defense has cost the team an estimated 35 runs, equivalent to roughly 3-4 wins in the standings. The main culprit has been Jimmy Rollins, whose minus-10 runs saved rate as the second-worst for a shortstop in baseball this year. Clearly, the 32-year-old former Fielding Bible Award winner has lost a step or two.
Wilson Valdez was the primary second baseman with 2010 Fielding Bible Award winner Chase Utley rehabbing an injury, but despite his defensive reputation, Valdez (minus-9 runs saved) struggled in a small sample of games at the position. While Ryan Howard (minus-7 runs saved) has never been a good or even average defensive first baseman, Placido Polanco (minus-5 runs saved) has not played his best defense yet this year, either.
The good news for Lee is that Utley is back in the starting lineup. A healthy Utley should provide a much-needed defensive boost, and we should see some improvement from Rollins and Polanco. However, Lee still shouldn't expect the same level of defensive support he received last year in the American League.
If Lee continues to strike out opposing hitters at his current league-leading, career-high pace, he will minimize the damage the aging Philadelphia defense can impart. Should his strikeout rate fall back to his career levels, he will have a hard time repeating his Cy Young-caliber totals of the past few seasons.
He won the game practically by himself. All against lefties I believe.
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
definitely a good sign.
think they said on the radio broadcast that howard is 10 for his last 25 with risp. :thumbup:
utley had a great game too.
I hope you're joking with your first sentence. Sure he had a good game, but let's not get carried away. Hopefully we won't have to wait another week for him to have a good game. That seems to be the trend so far this season.
He finally found a lefty he could hit. A 35 year old washed up scrub with cancer.
Ruben Amaro again says the Phillies will make no moves -- and as Bob Brookover writes, his veracity track record on these kind of things is checkered. Several rival talent evaluators speculated this week that Josh Willingham of Oakland would be a perfect fit for the Phillies because he's right-handed, he's experienced in the National League and he could provide some protection for Ryan Howard when the Phillies face left-handed pitching. We'll see.
i kind of agree with jp that if they add someone it might not be a big move like that.
brookover's article today talks about how they have the best record in baseball right now but could be even better without making a move like that.
luckily we've still got a month and a half to evaluate before the deadline though...
the luxury tax threshold is the key. I don't see them going to that level either.
blanton being hurt is really killing them. if he was even average this year they could probably find someone to take him. then, there are the other horrible contracts (lidge, ibanez, howard) that could prohibit them from doing anything substantial.
who knows though? I never thought their payroll would reach the current level. maybe they will bite the bullet and pay the luxury tax for a few months.
that said, i just look at it like the phils have always, always, been a 2nd half team with this regime. they've got the best record in baseball in mid june despite not hitting the ball like they can. if these guys even approach their career averages, with this rotation and back end of the bullpen, they can beat anybody.
more like the Cubs just blow.
yeah, we'll see what happens. like you said, the good thing is they still have plenty of time to upgrade the lineup.
I think the bullpen is an issue as well. How many relievers do you consistently trust in a big playoff spot? I'd say one...madson.
i'm not concerned about the bullpen too much just because of the rotation. madson, bastard, stutes, and contreras (assuming he straightens things out)--i'm all okay with right now. with any luck lidge gives you something. gotta add another lefty at some point. but i'm good with the backend of the bullpen.