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.
January 17th, 2011 on 4:35 pm
It seems that all the fuss has folks thinking that we will have four 20 game winners in 2011. As wonderful as it is to have the so called Phour Aces, the odds of four 20 gamers are long indeed. We have talked here about Hamels’ accumulatd record not being what one might call lustrous; frankly, he needs to step it up considerably in order for the fans’s fantasies to come to pass. Regardless of what the team does behind him, the definition of “Horse” is a pitcher who can pick up an team and carry it upon his briad shoulders. He has not shown that he can come close to that.
The other thing is that Cliff Lee has had long stretches of being very mortal during the regular season. I do not know what effect his now-stable situation might have upon his performance, but he too needs to have a better season than he did last year if fan fantasies are to cpome to pass.
I think this will be a very interesting year. Hamels has a contrsct to play for. And pride, too, in the company of the other three. But I suspect that more than one of these guys needs to produce more than a little more in order for us to be looking at another parade.
January 17th, 2011 on 4:58 pm
No chance the Phillies have four 20-game winners in 2011. Two seems possible, but I’d be really surprised. Halladay seems like he has a good chance, but he was fantastic last year and still only won 21 games. Lee won twenty or more games once, in 2008, but has only won more than 14 games in a season twice. Hamels has never won 20 (or more than 15). Oswalt has done it twice, but not in the last five years. I’d guess one 20-game winner for the Phils in 2011.
January 17th, 2011 on 6:38 pm
Yeah, I would not bet my mortgage payment on four 20 gamers. Or three, for that matter. I would not be surprised to see Halliday repeat a 20 game win season. And my guess for the second 20 gamer would be Oswalt. If Hamels gets 20, we better get right with Jesus (or the Agent of your choice) because the end of the world is nigh.
January 18th, 2011 on 8:12 am
I wouldn’t care to guess which one, but I’m guessing there will only be 1 20-game winner, if any. My guess is that it will come from one of the four aces not named Hamels, but that’s about all I would suspect.
January 18th, 2011 on 9:39 am
Winning 20 games in today’s MLB is really really hard. I’d settle for 4 17+’s.
January 18th, 2011 on 9:39 am
Anybody know anything about this Matt Anderson guy they just signed to a minor league contract. He is a former first round pick. He have any future at all or is he a no risk pickup who won’t amount to anything?
January 18th, 2011 on 9:42 am
Yeah, Jim, that sure seems true. Why do you think that is?
January 18th, 2011 on 12:11 pm
Used to be your starting pitcher was your pitcher for the day, and the bullpen is where you went if his arm fell off or he took a line drive off his forehead. Then he’s right back out there 2 or 3 days later.
These days nobody pitches on less than 4 days rest, and hardly anybody finishes games. Big Roy is the exception, and that’s why he won 20. These other guys have too much opportunity to get pinch hit for in the 6th or 7th in a tie game, or have the lead change with the bullpen on the mound.
It would be kinda interesting to see bullpen W/L per starting pitcher.
January 18th, 2011 on 1:05 pm
I think there are a lot of people who are going to be surprised if Anderson turns out to help the Phillies. He turns 35 in August and has thrown ten innings in the majors since 2003. He was fantastic in 1998, throwing to an 0.66 ERA in the minors while throwing around 100-mph, but tore a muscle in his arm. His numbers have been awful since, although he did save 22 games for the Tigers in 2001.
January 18th, 2011 on 3:00 pm
Kendrick gets $2.45 mil, avoiding arb. Seems high.
January 18th, 2011 on 3:06 pm
Anything under $3 mil for KK is pretty much a bargain based upon some other contracts around baseball.
January 18th, 2011 on 3:33 pm
I feel okay about $2.45 million for a year of Kendrick, too. Other than Blanton and the big four, the list of starting pitchers on the team I feel are significantly better than Kendrick is pretty short. I will be surprised if he doesn’t start at least 15 games for the Phils this year.
January 18th, 2011 on 5:41 pm
WOW. FIFTEEN? That many, huh. that has to mean that Blanton is gone.