In my previous post, I pointed out that Phillie starters led the NL in innings pitched in 2011 with 1,064 2/3. So when was the last time an NL team saw its starters throw that many innings? 1998, when the Braves did it.
Here’s the list of the teams that led the league in innings by starting pitcher over the past 14 years:
| Year | Team | IP by starters |
| 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 |
PHI PHI STL MIL SF COL STL CHC CHC ARI ATL ATL ARI ATL |
1064 2/3 1035 1/3 1003 2/3 983 1/3 968 2/3 985 1048 1007 1030 1/3 1059 1/3 1007 2/3 1040 1/3 1056 2/3 1074 2/3 |
In the past six seasons, the only NL team other than the Phillies to get 1,000 innings from their starters is the 2009 St Louis Cardinals.
No team has gotten more innings from their starter since the 1998 Atlanta Braves threw 1,074 2/3. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Danny Neagle all made at least 26 starts for the Braves that year and all of them threw an average of at least 6.45 innings per start. Maddux led the group, making 34 starts in which he threw 251 innings, which is about 7.38 innings per start.
In the DL-loving American League, getting a thousand innings from your starters has happened a little more often in recent history. In each of the past two seasons there were four AL teams that saw their starters toss a 1,000 frames. The Mariners, White Sox and Angels have all had their starters go a thousand innings in each of the last two years while the Rays and Red Sox have each done it once.
This suggests the Phils are going to work more on bunting and mentions Rollins, Victorino, Michael Martinez and Juan Pierre as bunt-for-a-hit candidates. Really hoping we don’t see Victorino bunting 15-20 more times a year in 2012.
The article linked above also says that Conteras’s bullpen session went well yesterday and he could still be ready for Opening Day.
This article suggests that Brian Sanches and David Herndon might be battling for a bullpen spot. I do like Sanches and think there’s a chance he can help the Phils this year, but have some trouble forgetting him allowing four home runs in relief the night the Phils lost their ten thousandth game in team history.
Danys Baez retired. Between 2010 and 2011, Baez made 80 relief appearances for the Phils in which he threw to a 5.81 ERA with a 1.60 ratio.
February 28th, 2012 on 12:30 pm
Write it down: David Herndon will get 10 saves for the Phils this year.
February 28th, 2012 on 1:17 pm
Golly. That’s enough Herndon optimism to make me wonder if you’re a blood relative. Herndon was rather fantastic at the end of the season last year, throwing to a 1.55 ERA over his last 22 appearances. His ERA got some help with a single Pence error on September 24 that let to four of the runs he allowed being unearned.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201109242.shtml
Still, he was pretty good at the end of the year. I do think that not being on the post-season roster says a lot about what the Phillies think about him. After Papelbon, I think the guys ahead of him for saves would include Bastardo, Qualls and Stutes.
February 28th, 2012 on 2:18 pm
Haha… no, not a relative.
I was among the surprised that he was left off the postseason roster. It seemed like Charlie and Ruben might have had differing opinions on him. But, it seemed Charlie was using him quite a bit in setup situations.
Using Bastardo as a closer is tough, because that effectively means one fewer lefty reliever. Closers are hand-agnostic. I’m not sure I agree he ranks below Qualls and Stutes, but there’s plenty of time to figure that out.
February 28th, 2012 on 4:42 pm
I think one of the most interesting issue this year will be the performance of the sophomore pitchers. All of us have seen rookies come in like a blazing star, only to have their second year be not nearly as good. Stutes, Bastardo, and Worley will be kind of interesting to watch. They are certainly being relied upon to produce this year.
February 28th, 2012 on 4:57 pm
I’m hoping for the best on Bastardo, but if that guy hasn’t already had the best year of his career he’s going to be a superstar. It doesn’t get a lot better than allowing 28 hits in 58 innings.
I agree with Jim that being the best lefty in the pen without a lot of other choices makes it tougher to use him. I think the Phils will figure out a second legit lefty before too long if Willis doesn’t pan out.
Stutes was kind of scary at the end of 2011. Worley was great, but I think we should count on him being a little less great this year.
February 28th, 2012 on 6:53 pm
Worley has to learn to pitch ahead in the count. The later in the year it got to be, the deeper the counts seem to run. Don’t get me wrong; he showed real steel when he fell behind, far beyond his years. It was pretty impressive to watch him stay calm and focused. But as a rule, pitching from behind in the count is not likely to produce a lot of success.
February 29th, 2012 on 8:00 am
Here’s hoping we get a good medical report on Howard today.
February 29th, 2012 on 9:27 am
That would be very nice. It’s hard to imagine news coming back that Howard is going to be ready before the end of May, but less hard to imagine the news being worse than that.