Wish you were here
August 20 2007
The Phillies are seventh in the National League in runs scored for August. They've scored 92 runs in 17 August games, about 5.41 runs per game. Over the first four months of the season the Phils led the NL in runs scored twice and were fourth in the league twice.
The Phils do have their share of guys who have been hitting this month, it just hasn't been the guys that had been leading the offense all season. With Utley out, Rowand, Rollins and Howard have all been quiet. Fortunately for the Phils, they have gotten big months from Burrell and Werth. Dobbs has also put up great numbers, but has just 27 at-bats in August.
There are 168 NL players with at least 25 plate appearances in August. Here's how the Phillies rank among them for the month, using OPS as the measure.
| Player | NL Rank | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Dobbs | 26 | 333 | 379 | 630 | 1009 |
| Burrell | 31 | 295 | 389 | 607 | 995 |
| Werth | 40 | 288 | 413 | 558 | 970 |
| Ruiz | 41 | 324 | 410 | 559 | 969 |
| Rowand | 83 | 210 | 319 | 468 | 787 |
| Rollins | 86 | 246 | 361 | 420 | 782 |
| Helms | 87 | 250 | 240 | 542 | 782 |
| Coste | 99 | 344 | 382 | 375 | 757 |
| Iguchi | 117 | 303 | 333 | 368 | 702 |
| Howard | 120 | 188 | 303 | 391 | 693 |
| Nunez | 125 | 231 | 394 | 269 | 663 |
Rowand, Rollins and Howard have combined to hit .215 in August, going 42-for-195. The Phils will be needing them back soon.
I wrote a blurb for ESPN's Face of the Franchise project, which has four people nominating someone as the face of each of the MLB teams. The nominees for the Phillies were made by Jason Stark, Todd Zolecki, Eric Young and myself and will be revealed throughout the week. You can view them and vote here.