Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels have combined to make 206 starts for the Phillies over the past five years. Here’s the team record in starts by those pitchers over the past five seasons:
| 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 |
| Halladay 22-11 | Hamels 16-16 | Hamels 19-14 | Hamels 19-9 | Hamels 13-10 |
| Hamels 18-15 | Lee 8-4 | |||
| Oswalt 10-2 |
The 206 starts haven’t been distributed at all evenly among the four. Hamels has made 149 of them, Halladay 33 and Oswalt and Lee have each made 12.
The Phils also haven’t had a lot of success with Hamels on the mound in the past couple of years.
In each of the last two years, the Phillies have had a better winning percentage in games that Hamels didn’t start than in games he did. Over the past three years combined, the Phillies are 53-45 (.541) when Hamels starts and 229-159 (.590) when he doesn’t. They also have a better winning percentage in games started by Kendrick (36-27, .571) over the past three years than in the games started by Hamels.
The mediocre record in games started by Hamels has a lot to do with them going 16-16 in the games Hamels started in 2009 when he didn’t pitch very well, but also with the offensive support that Hamels has gotten from the team. In 2008, the Phillies scored 4.61 runs per game in the games he started and 5.02 in the games he didn’t. In 2009 it was 4.69 in his starts and 5.15 in his non-starts. Last year they scored just 3.76 runs per game when he started and 5.02 runs per game when he didn’t.
Here’s what the Phillies have done in games started and not started by Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels and Lee over the last five years.
| Year | Started by Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels or Lee | Not Started by Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels or Lee | ||
| 2010 | 50-28 | .641 | 47-37 | .560 |
| 2009 | 24-20 | .545 | 69-49 | .585 |
| 2008 | 19-14 | .576 | 73-56 | .566 |
| 2007 | 19-9 | .679 | 70-64 | .522 |
| 2006 | 13-10 | .565 | 72-67 | .520 |
| Total | 125-81 | .607 | 331-273 | .548 |
In 2009, the Phillies had a better record in the games that Hamels and Lee didn’t start (69-49) than the games that they did (24-20). In the other four seasons, the Phils fared better in the games started by Halladay, Oswalt, Lee or Hamels.
If the concerning news is that the Phillies are just 53-45 when Hamels starts in the last three years (85-64 over the last five), the good news is that they are a rather amazing 40-17 (.702) when Halladay, Oswalt or Lee start. Despite the 40-17, though, the Phils are just 74-48 (.607) when Halladay, Oswalt, Lee or Hamels start over the last two seasons, thanks to the 34-31 put up by Hamels.
