Nobody likes to hear it, because it's dull, but the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same - pitching (Earl Weaver)
January 18
2007
Overall last season, Phillies' pitchers faced 6,366 batters and threw to a 4.60 ERA. Here's a look at how many batters each of the pitchers faced and whether their season ERA helped or hurt the team's mark overall:
| Player | BF | % | ERA | +/- team ERA |
| Myers | 833 | 13 | 3.91 | -.69 |
| Lieber | 714 | 11 | 4.93 | +.33 |
| Madson | 620 | 10 | 5.69 | +1.09 |
| Hamels | 558 | 9 | 4.08 | -.52 |
| Lidle | 542 | 9 | 4.74 | +.14 |
| Geary | 390 | 6 | 2.96 | -1.64 |
| Fultz | 317 | 5 | 4.54 | -.06 |
| Floyd | 264 | 4 | 7.29 | +2.69 |
| Wolf | 261 | 4 | 5.56 | +.96 |
| Gordon | 253 | 4 | 3.34 | -1.26 |
| Franklin | 233 | 4 | 4.58 | -.02 |
| Rhodes | 214 | 3 | 5.32 | +.72 |
| Moyer | 209 | 3 | 4.03 | -.57 |
| Mathieson | 177 | 3 | 7.47 | +2.87 |
| White | 158 | 2 | 4.34 | -.26 |
| Cormier | 139 | 2 | 1.59 | -3.01 |
| Condrey | 122 | 2 | 3.14 | -1.46 |
| Sanches | 98 | 2 | 5.91 | +1.31 |
| Castro | 88 | 1 | 1.54 | -3.06 |
| Brito | 87 | 1 | 7.36 | +2.76 |
| Santana | 43 | <1 | 7.56 | +2.96 |
| Smith | 31 | <1 | 2.08 | -2.52 |
| Bernero | 15 | <1 | 36.00 | +31.40 |
Nice, but not surprising, to see that Myers got the most work.
Behind Myers, two of the
three guys that saw the most action, Lieber and Madson, really struggled.
One thing that was surprising to me was I had forgotten how few batters Matt
Smith actually faced last season. Unless the Phillies add a big name lefty,
which is still a possibility, Smith seems sure to play a critical role in
the pen this season. He has thrown 20 2/3 innings in his career.
Clay Condrey threw to a shiny 3.14 ERA, but allowed 35 hits in 28 2/3
innings. He was very good at the end of the season, charged with just one
run in his last 6 1/3 innings, but for the year opponents hit .318 against
him. Lefties hit .383. In his career he has now thrown 89 1/3 innings --
righties are hitting .264 against him but lefties .315.
And yes, it's been pointed out before, but Fabio Castro sure was on the team
for a long time to end the season having thrown to 88 batters in a Phillies
uniform. If Castro and Smith prove to be the lefties out of the pen to
start the season for the Phils, they have 52 1/3 innings of combined major
league experience. If they don't prove to be the lefties out of the pen
they still have 52 1/3 innings of major league experience.
The Pirates and the Braves finally agreed to the deal that will send Mike Gonzalez to Atlanta and Adam LaRoche to Pittsburgh.
Adam Eaton has already done more than his share of good deeds for the Phils. Here's hoping he can pitch. As far as I know, he's limited the number of starts he's missed in his career due to inability to open a DVD without stabbing himself to one.
Phillies' organizational report from USA Today.
Wes Helms gets chills when he talks about the '07 Phillies. Or it might just be that it was 14 degrees outside.
Shane Victorino has a goal to steal at least 30 bases this year. Hopefully his other goals include on-basing about .370 and getting caught stealing less than five times. Giving away outs on the bases in front of Utley, Howard and Burrell is a really bad idea. Here's hoping he's safe a lot of the time.