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Bruce Springsteen. Sort of.

The table below shows, for each of the past five years, the four pitchers who have gotten the most starts for the Phillies that season and their WAR for the year as calculated by Baseball-Reference:

Important to note is that the WAR for the pitcher includes all of his appearances for the season, not just his starts. So, for example, Kendrick made 37 appearances in 2012 and only 25 of them were starts. His WAR for the year was 1.3 and that includes all 37 appearances, not just the 25 starts.

Again, the Phillies went to the World Series in 2008 and again in 2009 and they did it without outstanding starting pitching. This message will repeat. Happ (in 2009) and Hamels (in 2008) were the only two pitchers, starter or relievers, to post a WAR for the season better than 2.5 in either year.

Led by Hamels and Halladay, the top four was a lot better in 2010. Halladay, Hamels and Lee all had superb years in 2011.

Halladay was, as you may have noticed, way off in 2012. Hamels wasn’t as good as he had been in 2011 or 2010. Lee wasn’t as good as he had been in 2011, but the top for of the rotation were still better than they been in 2009 and a lot better than they had been in 2008.

It’s easy for some of us (by which I mean me) to forget that Lee didn’t throw a pitch for the Phillies in 2010. They Phillies have only had two years where Halladay, Hamels and Lee comprised the core of the rotation. One of those years was great for the Phillies until they were bounced out of the playoffs in the first round. The other was 2012, which is best forgotten if at all possible.

Halladay came into 2012 having not put up a WAR worse than 5.9 since 2008 — in ’08 he was an All-Star, finished second in Cy Young voting in the AL (losing to Indian and 22-game winner Cliff Lee) and seventh in WAR for pitchers across both leagues. Last year his WAR was 0.7, which is the worst mark of his career since he threw to a 10.64 ERA as a 23-year-old with the Blue Jays in 2000.

Rollins won his fourth Gold Glove.

The Phillies picked up the $5 million option on Ruiz and declined the $5.5 million option on Polanco. They will pay Polanco a $1 million buyout. The same article suggests that free agent Juan Pierre is not likely to be back with the Phillies.

This article suggests that Worley will stay in Philadelphia to rehab his elbow coming off of surgery.

This article suggests the Phillies have $135.35 million committed to ten players for next season, including Lee ($25 million), Halladay ($20 million), Howard ($20 million), Hamels ($19.5 million), Utley ($15 million), Papelbon ($13 million), Rollins ($11 million), Ruiz ($5 million), Kyle Kendrick ($4.5 million) and Laynce Nix ($1.35 million).

That’s $40 million committed to Halladay and Howard. In 2012, Howard’s Baseball-Reference calculated WAR was -1.2 and Halladay’s was 0.7.

This article quotes Amaro suggesting that that center field will have to be addressed externally. The writer goes on to list possible candidates, including Bourn, Pagan, Upton, Victorino, Hamilton, Cabrera, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dexter Fowler.

This article looks at potential corner outfielders, including free agent Juan Pierre, Nick Swisher, Cody Ross, Torii Hunter, Ryan Ludwick, Jonny Gomes, Rual Ibanez, Ichiro Suzuki, Delmon Young, Josh Willingham and Alfonso Soriano.

Almost.

The combined WAR for Phillie pitchers as calculated by Baseball-Reference was 10.8 in 2012, way down from the NL-leading WARs the team posted in 2011 and 2010.

The Phillies had a long, long way to fall, though. In 2011, Baseball-Reference calculated the combined WAR for all Phillie pitchers at 35.2. That is enormously high. How high? Well, here is the list of all teams whose pitchers have posted a combined Baseball-Reference WAR of 30 or better since 1900:

Not a long list and the ’11 Phillies are at the top.

Looking back to the previous post, the Phillies led the NL in combined WAR for pitchers in 2010 (21.2) and again in 2011 (35.2). 2010 and 2011 are the only two years of the last ten in which the Phillie pitchers have been over 14.8.

The average for the team for the eight of the last ten years that were not 2010 or 2011 is about 8.8. The average for 2010 and 2011 was 28.2.

The point here is that the pitchers for the Phillies aren’t going to post a WAR of 35.2 again any time soon. Or ever. So the Phils are going to need to figure out another way to win (and hopefully one that involves Freddy Galvis never, ever being allowed near third base).

In 2011, Halladay posted a WAR of 8.5 and Cliff Lee put up an 8.3. By comparison, in 2012, there were four pitchers across both leagues with a WAR better than 5.8 — Verlander (7.6), Price (6.4), Harrison (6.2) and Kershaw (6.2).

So having two guys in your rotation at 8.3 or better is a big deal.

Here is the list of pitchers across both leagues who have posted a Baseball-Reference WAR of 8.3 or higher over the last ten years:

So that’s six seasons for pitchers with a WAR of 8.3 or better over the last ten years, three of which are Halladay or Lee (Halladay did it in 2010 and again in 2011). To compare, Cole Hamels is a great pitcher and has posted a WAR for a season once that was over 5.3 (6.2 in 2011). Roy Oswalt has finished in the top six in Cy Young voting six times, but has had a WAR for the season above 5.6 just twice (6.7 in 2002 and 6.4 in 2007).

So, again, the model for success going forward might have to a lot to do with good pitching, but it can’t rely on the pitching being as good as it was in 2011, because that is never going to happen again.

Looking for potential good news, there’s always the possibility that WAR, or at least WAR as calculated by Baseball-Reference, doesn’t matter at all. Sadly, I’m afraid it does, although it does seem worthwhile to point out enormous differences between the combined WAR for pitchers in 2011 as calculated by Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs. While Baseball-Reference’s calculation of WAR suggests the 2011 Phillies had one of the most dominant pitching staffs in the history of baseball, FanGraph’s calculation of WAR suggests they weren’t even the best pitching staff in 2011. FanGraphs has them second across both leagues at 27.1 and the White Sox first at 27.3.

David Herndon is now a Blue Jay after being claimed by Toronto.

Tyson Brummett was also claimed off of waivers by the Blue Jays last week, then designated for assignment so Toronto could make room for Herndon on their 40-man roster.

Michael Martinez has been removed from the 40-man roster and sent to Triple-A.

The 40-man roster is at 36 with three players (Stutes, Contreras and Schneider) on the 60-day DL.

The Phillies never got it figured out in 2012, losing their final game yesterday in fitting fashion as the Nats topped them 5-1. Lee made a quality start and took the loss. The pen gave up a pair of runs in the eighth inning and Utley, Howard and Rollins combined to go 0-for-4 in the game with Rollins and Howard sidelined with injuries.

They end 2012 having won 21 fewer regular season games than they won in 2011.

Jimmy Rollins seems unfazed, coming up with this gem after the game that suggests the Nats would have finished second had the Phils been healthy: “It’s all come together for them. So that’s great for them. But with us being healthy, you know, they’re still second place. But we weren’t [healthy].”

Huh?

I’m having a lot of trouble understanding how the Phillies being healthy would have helped the Braves finish ahead of the Nationals.

I’m not even sure that’s what he meant.

Just so we’re all on the same page: The Phillies played baseball for about three hours on 162 different occasions in 2012. That’s a lot of baseball. It showed that they weren’t especially good relative to the teams they were playing against.

They weren’t especially good at scoring runs or preventing them.

They finished 17 games behind the best team in their division.

They paid Halladay, Howard, Utley and Rollins about $66 million to hit a combined 245/324/427 and throw to a 4.49 ERA over 25 starts.

Most fans would agree they have one young impact player in the organization, at least in terms of hitters. He hit .235 for the year and finished the season with numbers very similar to his disappointing 2011 season.

There are some problems here. The expensive core is getting old and looking older than they are. The Phils have close to no chance or replacing them or coming close to replacing them with players currently in the organization. Getting healthy would help, but if you think that’s the only thing the Phillies need, I think you might want to look again.

The Phillies have finished the 2012 season at 81-81, losing 5-1 to the Washington Nationals in yesterday’s final game of the year. The Phils end the year in third place, 17 games out of first and seven games out for the Wild Card. The Nats take the series two games to one.

Lee got the start for the Phillies and went six innings, allowing three runs on eight hits. Six of the hits went for extra-bases — three doubles, a triple and two home runs.

He set the Nationals down in order in the bottom of the first. Pierre made a fantastic play for the second out on a ball hit by Mark DeRosa, reaching up and over the fence to take away a home run.

Michael Morse doubled to left to start the second, but Lee set the Nats down in order behind him to leave Morse at second.

Jayson Werth tripled to center with two outs in the third. Lee got DeRosa on a fly ball to center to leave Werth stranded.

He started the fourth up 1-0. Ryan Zimmerman led off and hit a 1-2 pitch out to right. 1-1. Morse and Tyler Moore doubled back-to-back. 2-1 with nobody out and Moore at second. Lee got Ian Desmond on a foul out to Ruiz for the first out, then struck out Danny Espinosa and Jesus Flores back-to-back to leave Moore stranded.

Ugly start to the frame as the Nats go home run, double, double with their first three hitters.

Through four innings, Lee had allowed three doubles, a triple and a home run and given up just two runs.

Werth singled with one out in the fifth, but Lee got DeRosa and Zimmerman behind him.

Lee struck Morse out to start the sixth before Moore homered 3-2, extending the Washington lead to 3-1. Desmond followed with a single, but Lee struck Espinosa and Flores out back-to-back behind him at first.

De Fratus threw a 1-2-3 seventh. Switch-hitter Steve Lombardozzi hit for pitcher Christian Garcia and flew to right for the first out. Werth popped to third for the second and DeRosa grounded to second for the third.

Three up, three down for De Fratus. He allows five runs on the year over 10 2/3 innings in 13 appearances. Three of the five runs he allowed came in a single outing. He ends the year with a 3.38 ERA and a 1.12 ratio. Righties hit just 130/231/130 against him in 26 plate appearances.

Papelbon started the eighth. Zimmerman led off and walked. Bryce Harper ran for him at first. Morse was next and Papelbon got ahead of him 0-2 before Morse fouled off five pitches, then hit a 1-2 offering out to right-center for a two-run homer. 5-1. Papelbon struck Moore out swinging for the first out and righty Tyson Brummett came on to face Desmond. Desmond singled to left and moved up to second when Espinosa singled to right. It put men on first and second with one out for Flores. Brummett struck him out swinging for the second out. Lefty Chad Tracy hit for the pitcher Sean Burnett and Brummett struck him out swinging 2-2 to end the frame.

Papelbon faces three hitters and they go walk, homer strikeout. He was fantastic this year, ending with a 2.44 ERA and a 1.06 ratio. He came into yesterday’s appearance with an 0.59 ERA and an 0.88 ratio in 30 2/3 innings over his last 31 appearances.

28-year-old Tyson Brummett faces four batters in his debut, allowing singles to the first two before registering back-to-back strikeouts to leave the runners stranded.

Overall the pen goes two innings in the game, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk while striking out three.

Everyone should be well-rested of their next appearance.

The Phillies lineup against righty Edwin Jackson went (1) Pierre (2) Frandsen (3) Utley (4) Ruiz (5) Brown (6) Ruf (7) Schierholtz (8) Martinez. Mayberry on the bench with Schierholtz in center. Pierre plays left with Ruf at first for the sidelined Howard. Martinez starts at short for the sidelined Rollins.

The Phillies went in order in the top of the first.

Ruf walked with two outs in the second and moved to third on a ground-rule double down the left field line by Schierholtz. Martinez grounded to short to leave the runners at second and third.

Frandsen singled with two outs in the third. Utley grounded to second to set the Phillies down.

Ruiz started the fourth with a double and moved up to third when Brown grounded out for the first out. Ruf was next and he flew to center, deep enough for Ruiz to tag and score, putting the Phillies up 1-0. Schierholtz singled to center before Martinez flew to left to end the frame.

The Phillies were down 2-1 when they hit in the fifth. Lee and Pierre struck out back-to-back to start the inning before Frandsen doubled to left. Utley was next and hit the ball well, but Moore handled the line drive at first to leave Frandsen stranded.

Jackson set Ruiz, Brown and Ruf down in order in the sixth.

Schierholtz lined a double to right, his second double of the day, to start the seventh. Martinez flew to left for the first out. Nix hit for Lee and struck out swinging for the second. Righty Christian Garcia came in to face Pierre and got Pierre on a fly ball to center to leave Schierholtz stranded.

Lefty Sean Burnett set the Phillies down in order in the eighth.

Lefty Gio Gonzalez pitched the ninth with Washington up 5-1. Brown fouled out to third for the first out. Ruf struck out swinging 1-2 for the second out. Wigginton hit for Schierholtz and drew a walk. Martinez flew to left and the season was over.

Pierre was 0-for-4 and struck out twice yesterday in his only action of the series. Made a great catch in the first to take a homer away from DeRosa. He finishes the year at 307/351/371.

Frandsen 2-for-4 with a double. 6-for-13 with three doubles in the series. 338/383/451 in 210 plate appearances for the season.

Utley 0-for-4. 0-for-11 with a walk in the series. 256/365/429 for the year. Hit 215/324/355.

Ruiz 1-for-4 with a double. 1-for-8 with a double and a walk in the series. He was hitting 353/413/596 for the year at the end of the day on July 16. 250/345/390 in 116 plate appearances after July 16. Still ends the year at 325/394/540, which is the best year of his career with the bat by a wide margin.

Brown 0-for-4 in the game and 3-for-12 with a double in the series. He plans to have an MRI on his right knee today — let’s hope it reveals 120 ground outs to second that can be removed with a simple and safe surgical procedure. Ends the year at 235/316/396. 196/288/333 against lefties for the season.

Ruf 0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts. 3-for-8 with two walks, a triple, two home runs and five RBI in the three-game set. He also struck out five times. 333/351/727 for the year in 37 plate appearances.

Schierholtz 3-for-3 with two doubles. He finishes at 257/321/407 for the year. 273/319/379 with the Phillies in 73 plate appearances. He came into the game hitting 238/290/317 for the year with the Phillies over 70 plate appearances.

Martinez 0-for-4 and left five men on base. 2-for-11 with a strikeout in the series. 174/208/252 for the year.

No game today.

Stadium Journey recently published a new review of Citizens Bank Park.

The playoff hopes (dreams? fantasies? Tough to find the right word there) and Ryan Howard’s season both came to an end this weekend as the Phils were mathematically eliminated from the post-season. Howard dropped something heavy on his big toe and the Phillies took two of three from the Fish. Two of three wasn’t enough, though, the Phillies would have needed to take about eight out of three to keep their chances alive. With three games left to play, the Phils are six out for the Wild Card.

Lee pitched seven strong innings in the opener, but the Phils managed just one run in the game and fell 2-1.

Halladay allowed four runs over five innings in game two of the set, but the Phils got enough offense to overcome yet another rough start from the ace and won 9-5. Utley and Ruiz combined to go 4-for-9 in the game and drove in five runs.

Hamels was very strong yesterday, allowing a run over seven innings and getting his 17th win of the season as the Phils topped the Fish 4-1. Ruiz had three more hits in the game.

The Phillies are 80-79 on the year after beating the Miami Marlins 4-1 yesterday afternoon. The Phillies take two of the three in the series and are in third place in the NL East, 16 games behind the first-place Nationals. They have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Hamels got the start for the Phillies and went seven innings, allowing a run on five hits and a walk. Two of the hits went for extra-bases, both doubles. He struck out eight.

Up 3-0, Hamels struck out Gorkys Hernandez, Bryan Petersen and Jose Reyes in order in the bottom of the first.

He set the Marlins down in order in the second and again in the third.

Petersen singled to center with one out in the fourth and moved to third when Reyes followed with a double to left. Giancarlo Stanton was next and hit a ground ball to third. Orr fielded and threw home. Petersen was tagged out for the second out. It brought Carlos Lee to the plate with men on first and second. The runners moved up to second and third on an error by Hamels on a pickoff attempt before Lee singled to right. Reyes scored, cutting the lead to 3-1, but Brown threw Stanton out at the plate to end the inning.

Donovan Solano doubled to left to start the fifth. John Buck was next and flew to center for the first out with Solano tagging and moving up to third. Gil Velazquez followed with a walk, putting runners on the corners for the pitcher Nathan Eovaldi. Eovaldi struck out trying to bunt Velazquez to second for the second out. Hamels struck Hernandez out looking to leave the runners on the corners.

With one out in the sixth, Reyes bunted looking for a hit. Hamels fielded and threw wildly to first for his second error of the day, which left Reyes on second on the error. Reyes stole third before Stanton popped to Rollins with Reyes holding. Lee struck out looking to end the inning.

No RBI for Stanton with one out and the speedy Reyes on third.

Hamels set Miami down in order in the seventh.

Bastardo started the eighth up 4-1. Righty Austin Kearns hit for the pitcher Ryan Webb and popped to Utley for the first out. Bastardo struck out Hernandez and Petersen behind him.

Papelbon started the ninth with a three-run lead. Stanton and Lee singled back-to-back with one out, bringing Solano to the plate as the tying run with men on first and second. Papelbon got Solano swinging for the second out and Buck swinging to end the game.

The Phillies lineup against righty Nathan Eovaldi went (1) Rollins (2) Pierre (3) Utley (4) Ruiz (5) Brown (6) Schierholtz (7) Ruf (8) Orr. Ruf plays first with Howard out for the season after hurting his toe. Ruiz catches. Pierre in left against the righty with Brown in right and Schierholtz in center. Orr at third against the righty.

Rollins was the first batter of the game and walked. Pierre was next and singled to right. Rollins took third and Pierre moved up to second as the throw went to third. Utley flew to left for the first out, deep enough for Rollins to tag and score, putting the Phils up 1-0. Ruiz was next and doubled to left, plating Pierre. 2-0. Brown lined to short for the second out before Schierholtz singled to right. Ruiz scored from second and the Phils led 3-0. Ruf moved Schierholtz to second with a single, but Orr struck out swinging to leave both runners stranded.

The Phillies went in order in the second and third. Ruiz and Brown struck out back-to-back to end the third.

Orr singled to right with two outs in the fourth. Hamels struck out swinging to leave him at first.

The lead was cut to 3-1 when the Phils went in order in the fifth as Eovaldi struck out Pierre and Utley.

Ruiz singled to start the sixth, but the Phillies went in order behind him.

Lefty Dan Jennings started the seventh. Frandsen hit for Orr and grounded to first for the first out. Hamels struck out for the second before Rollins drew a walk. Pierre flew to left to leave Rollins at first.

Utley and Ruiz singled back-to-back off of lefty Michael Dunn to start the eighth. It put runners on the corners with nobody out for Brown. Brown flew to center for the first out, deep enough for Utley to tag and score, which extended the lead to 4-1. Schierholtz singled to right, putting runners on the corners again. Righty Ryan Webb came on to pitch to Webb. Webb grounded to third. Ruiz was caught up between third and home and eventually tagged out for the second out. It left men on second and third with two down for Frandsen. Frandsen lined to second to leave them stranded.

Heath Bell set the Phillies down in order in the ninth. Nix hit for Bastardo and grounded to second for the third out.

Rollins was 0-for-3 in the game and walked twice. 4-for-11 with three walks in the series. 250/316/427 for the year. 287/376/537 in September.

Pierre 1-for-4 with a strikeout. 1-for-6 with a walk in the series. 310/354/374 for the year. He hit .375 in 67 plate appearances in September.

Utley 1-for-3 with a walk yesterday and 3-for-11 with a walk in the series. 266/374/445 on the season.

Ruiz 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. His double was the only extra-base hit of the game for the Phillies. 6-for-13 with two doubles in the set. 330/398/547 for the year. 278/348/479 over his last 161 plate appearances.

Brown 0-for-3 with an RBI. 1-for-7 with a walk and a triple in the series. 234/320/400.

Schierholtz 2-for-4 with an RBI in the game and 4-for-6 in the series. 248/313/391 for the year. 238/290/317 in 70 plate appearances with the Phillies. 175/206/238 against lefties for the year overall.

Ruf 1-for-4 with a single in the game. He started all three games in the set and went 3-for-12 with a double and four strikeouts. 8-for-25 for the year with two doubles and a home run. He still hasn’t walked yet. 320/308/520 in 26 plate appearances.

Orr 1-for-2 in the game. 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI in the series. 321/333/453 for the season.

Kendrick (10-12, 4.08) faces lefty John Lannan (4-0, 4.23) tonight at Nationals Park. Kendrick is not Cy Young and has been hit hard in two of his last three starts, throwing to a 6.59 ERA in those outings. He allowed three homers in two innings his last time out. Lannan started against Kendrick on September 26 and allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings.

It would take a miracle to get the Phillies into the post-season at this point. If the miracle is coming, it sure is slow-moving. The Phillies dropped two of three against the Braves this weekend and are 4-4 over their last eight.

The Phils came out strong against Atlanta, homering four times in the opener as they took game one 6-2. Halladay was miserable on Saturday, though, allowing seven runs over 1 2/3 innings as the Braves evened the series with an 8-2 win.

Yesterday Cliff Lee pitched very well again, but the Phils managed just two hits in the game, both singles, and fell 2-1.

The Phillies are 77-76 on the year after losing to the Atlanta Braves 2-1 yesterday afternoon. Atlanta takes the series two games to one. The Phils remain in third place in the NL East, 15 1/2 games out of first. They are five back for the Wild Card.

Lee got the start for the Phillies and went eight innings, allowing two runs on nine hits. Only one of the runs was earned. Three of the hits went for extra-bases, two doubles and a home run. He struck out 11 and didn’t walk a batter.

Lee has thrown to a 1.56 ERA over his last eight starts.

Reed Johnson was the first batter of the game and singled softly to center. Lee struck Martin Prado out for the first out before Jason Heyward grounded to Utley with Johnson forced at second for the second. Freddie Freeman moved Heyward to third with a single, but Lee struck Dan Uggla out to leave the runners at the corners.

Jeff Baker grounded to second for the first out of the second before David Ross hit a 2-1 pitch out to center, putting Atlanta up 1-0. Andrelton Simmons grounded to short for the second out and Lee got the pitcher Tim Hudson on a fly ball to right for the third.

Johnson and Prado singled back-to-back to start the third, putting runners on first and second for Heyward. Heyward hit a ball that Lee didn’t handle cleanly for an error, which loaded the bases. Lee struck Freeman out for the first out before Uggla flew to center for the second, deep enough for everyone to move up a base. Johnson scored and Atlanta led 2-0. Baker grounded to Utley to leave the runners at second and third.

Shaky defense for the Phils in the inning. Lee can’t handle the ball hit by Heyward for an error. Brown misread the ball hit by Prado, which he wound up deflecting for a single.

Hudson doubled to center with two outs in the fourth, moving up to third when Mayberry mishandled the ball for another error. Lee struck Johnson out swinging to leave Hudson at third.

Prado doubled to center to start the fifth, but Lee got Heyward on a ground ball to third for the first out and struck out Freeman and Uggla both swinging to leave Prado stranded.

Lee struck out Baker and Ross to start the sixth. Simmons was next and singled to left on a ball deflected by Frandsen. Hudson fouled out to Howard to leave Simmons at first.

The lead was cut to 2-1 when Lee set the Braves down on three ground balls in the seventh.

Freeman singled to center to start the eighth. Lee got Uggla on a fly ball to right for the first out and struck out Baker and Ross.

Papelbon struck out Simmons and Johnson in 1-2-3 ninth. Lefty Lyle Overbay hit for the pitcher Eric O’Flaherty and lined to short for the second out.

Papelbon has allowed two hits and three walks over nine scoreless innings over his last nine appearances. He has an 0.65 ERA and an 0.76 ratio in 27 2/3 innings over his last 28 appearances.

He threw 13 pitches in the game.

The Phillies lineup against righty Tim Hudson went (1) Rollins (2) Pierre (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Ruiz (6) Brown (7) Mayberry (8) Frandsen. Pierre in left against the righty. Brown hits ahead of Mayberry.

The Phillies went in order in the bottom of the first.

Down 1-0 they went in order in the second.

The Phillies were down 2-0 when Mayberry led off the third with a single. Frandsen bunted, but the ball hit him out of the box for the first out. Lee bunted Mayberry to second with the second. Rollins grounded to first to end the inning.

Utley was hit by a pitch with one out in the fourth. Howard and Mayberry went down behind him.

Frandsen singled with two outs in the fifth. Lee grounded to second to leave him stranded.

Rollins walked to start the sixth, took second on a bad pickoff attempt by Hudson and was bunted to third by Pierre. Utley flew to right for the second out on a diving play by Heyward. Rollins tagged and scored, cutting the lead to 2-1. Howard grounded to Simmons to end the inning.

The Phillies went in order in the seventh.

With one out in the eighth, Nix hit for Lee. Lefty Eric O’Flaherty came in to pitch to Nix and Wigginton hit for Nix. Wigginton grounded to short for the second out and Rollins fouled out to Freeman for the third.

Righty Craig Kimbrel set the Phillies down in order in the ninth.

Rollins was 0-for-3 with a walk in the game. 0-for-10 with two walks in the series. 250/314/429 on the year.

Pierre 0-for-3 in the game and 1-for-9 with a triple in the set. 313/356/379 for the year. He’s hitting .408 in September.

Utley 0-for-2 with an RBI. 1-for-9 with a walk and a home run in the series. 261/375/451 on the year. 370/500/500 over his last 64 plate appearances.

Howard 0-for-4 and struck out twice. 2-for-12 with two home runs and six strikeouts in the series. 225/297/438 for the year. 181/239/390 over his last 117 plate appearances.

Ruiz 0-for-3 yesterday and 3-for-10 with a walk and a home run in the series. 328/396/542 for the year.

Brown 0-for-3 with a strikeout. 0-for-8 with a walk in the series. 241/330/386 for the season.

Mayberry 1-for-3 with one of two hits for the Phils. 1-for-10 with five strikeouts in the series. 255/309/412 for the year. He’s 5-for-his-last-27 with five singles and nine strikeouts.

Frandsen 1-for-3 with the other single. 3-for-9 with a triple and a home run in the series. His slugging percentage for the year jumps from .388 to .416 for the season in the set. 329/383/416 for the year.

The Phillies don’t play today. Nats tomorrow.

Coming off of a miserable series in Houston, the Phils got right back in the swing of things last night, winning behind brilliant starting pitching as they topped the Mets 3-1.

Cliff Lee was fantastic, holding New York to a run over eight innings. Some shaky defense from the Mets helped the Phils score a run in the first without a hit or a walk. Rollins hit a ball just out in the fifth and Brown hit another just out in the seventh. New York scored their run in the bottom of the fifth on a bunt single, a sacrifice and a bloop single to left.

Lee continued what has been a tremendous run for him late in the season. He has a 1.63 ERA and an 0.97 ratio over his last seven starts and has struck out 54 in 49 2/3 innings in those outings. The Phillies have won the last five games he has started.

The Phillies are 74-74 on the year after beating the New York Mets 3-1 last night. They’re in third place in the NL East, 16 games behind the first-place Nationals, and 3 1/2 games out in the Wild Card hunt. The Playoff Odds report has them at 0.6%.

Lee got the start for the Phillies and went eight innings, allowing a run on seven hits and one walk. One of the hits went for extra-bases, a double. He struck out ten.

He started the bottom of the first up 1-0. Ruben Tejada led off and singled to left. Lee struck out Daniel Murphy for the first out before David Wright singled to left, putting runners on first and second for Scott Hairston. Hairston grounded to third with Frandsen making a nice play to charge and field, then throwing to second to force Wright for the second out. Lee struck Lucas Duda out swinging 3-2 to leave the runners on the corners.

Lee struck out Jason Bay for the first out in the second before Andres Torres singled to left. Lee struck out Mike Nickeas and the pitcher RA Dickey to leave Torres at first.

Lee’s strikeout of Bay was the 1,500th of his career.

He struck Murphy out in a 1-2-3 third.

Duda doubled to right with one out in the fourth. Bay flew to right for the second out and Torres flew to center for the third.

The Phils led 2-0 when Lee started the fifth. Nickeas led off with a bunt singled and Duda bunted him to second with the first out. Tejada was next and grounded to second for the second out with Nickeas moving up to third. It brought Murphy to the plate and he blooped a single to left, scoring Nickeas to cut the lead to 2-1. Wright struck out looking to leave Murphy at first.

Lee struck out Hairston and Bay in a 1-2-3 sixth.

He started the seventh up 3-1. Torres grounded to third for the first out. Righty Ronny Cedeno hit for Nickeas and popped to Rollins for the second out. Righty Kelly Shoppach hit for the pitcher Dickey and singled to center. Tejada moved Shoppach up to second with a walk, but Lee got Murphy to line to Utley to leave both runners stranded.

Lee set Wright, Hairston and Duda down in order in the eighth.

Papelbon started the ninth, pitching for the first time since September 12. Lefty Jordany Valdespin hit for Bay and fouled out to Frandsen for the first out. Lefty Mike Baxter hit for Torres and flew to left for the second. Ike Davis hit for the pitcher Ramon Ramirez and struck out swinging 0-2 to end the game.

Nothing like Jordany Valdespin facing Papelbon to bring back ugly memories. On May 7, Valdespin hit a three-run homer off of Papelbon in the top of the ninth to break a 2-2 tie.

One scoreless inning for the pen in the game. Papelbon has an 0.73 ERA and an 0.81 ratio in 24 2/3 innings over his last 25 appearances. He’s allowed five runs in that period, three of which were unearned. He’s struck out 33.

He threw 12 pitches in the game. Looked great.

Again, Papelbon did not pitch in the four-game set with the Astros as the bullpen collapsed.

The Phillies lineup against righty RA Dickey went (1) Rollins (2) Mayberry (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Ruiz (6) Schierholtz (7) Brown (8) Frandsen. Pierre on the bench with Schierholtz in right and Brown in left. Mayberry moves up to second in the order, which is really high given that he can’t hit right-handed pitching. Frandsen plays third.

Rollins led off and struck out swinging on a ball not handled by Nickeas, allowing Rollins to take first. He moved up to second on a bad pickoff throw by Dickey that went for an error. Mayberry grounded softly to Dickey for the first out and Rollins moved up to third. Utley hit a ball to shallow center that was taken by Torres took for the second out. Rollins tagged and came home. Torres’s throw was terrible, Rollins was safe and the Phils led 1-0. Howard went down on a ball handled by Dickey to end the frame.

Bad defense in the inning helps the Phils score a run without a hit or a walk. Rollins reaches on passed ball, takes second on the error by Dickey and scores on a miserable throw from Torres in center.

Ruiz started the second with a single. Schierholtz struck out swinging for the first out before Ruiz took second on a balk. Brown struck out swinging for the second out. Dickey walked Frandsen intentionally to get to Lee. Lee grounded to first to set the Phillies down.

Nutty to walk Frandsen intentionally there. The Phils get another free base on the balk.

Rollins and Mayberry struck out to start the third before Utley singled to right. Howard flew to left to leave Utley at first.

Brown tripled to center with two outs in the fourth. Frandsen grounded to short to leave him at third.

First triple of the year for Brown and the second of his career.

With one out in the fifth, Rollins hit an 0-1 pitch to right center that was ruled a home run after review, putting the Phils up 2-0. Mayberry and Utley went down behind him.

Rollins’s home run was originally ruled a triple. Replays show the ball went off the roof of the New York pen and back onto the field and not off the top of the wall.

The lead was cut to 2-1 when the Phillies hit in the sixth. Howard and Ruiz struck out as the Phils went in order.

Brown led off the seventh and hit an 0-1 pitch off the top of the wall in right and just out for a home run. 3-1. Frandsen and Lee went down before Rollins drew a walk. Mayberry flew to left to leave Rollins at first.

Fourth home run of the year for Brown and his second extra-base hit in two at-bats. Tejada made a nice sliding play to take a hit away from Frandsen for the first out.

Lefty Robert Carson pitched the eighth for the Mets. Utley led off with a single, but Howard grounded into a double-play behind him. Ruiz grounded to third to set the Phillies down.

Lefty Josh Edgin struck out Schierholtz and Brown to start the ninth. Righty Ramon Ramirez came in to pitch to Frandsen. Frandsen popped to the catcher for the third out.

The Phillies didn’t use a pinch-hitter or a defensive substitution in the game — the only change for the game was Papelbon replacing Lee to pitch the ninth. Don’t know how often that happens. Not very.

Rollins was 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run. The Phillies scored three runs in the game. Rollins hit a home run to account for one of them. He scored another in the first as the Phillies scored without a hit or a walk. He’s 11-for-his-last-27 with six walks and four home runs (407/500/889). He has hit 19 home runs since June 6 (256/324/493 over 407 plate appearances).

Mayberry 0-for-4 with a strikeout. He’s 2-for-his-last-11. He now has the same number of plate appearances on the year as a Phillie that Victorino does. Mayberry 258/313/422 in 413 plate appearances, Victorino 261/324/401. Victorino was a lot better defensively in center. Neither of them hit right-handed pitching at all, but Mayberry was a little worse awful. Victorino on-based .375 against lefties while Mayberry on-based .327, but with enormous power (although Victorino had very good power numbers against lefties as well).

Utley 2-for-3 with an RBI. 414/548/483 over his last 42 plate appearances with nine walks.

Howard 0-for-4 with a strikeout and grounded into a double-play. 180/261/246 so far in September.

Ruiz 1-for-4. He’s 1-for-his-last-13.

Schierholtz 0-for-4. 3-for-19 since returning from the DL.

Brown 2-for-4 with a triple, a home run and two strikeouts. 286/405/657 over his last 42 plate appearances. He suggests in this article that his success last night might have had something to do with letting it eat.

Frandsen 0-for-3 with a walk. He’s hitting .341 over his last 47 plate appearances.

Tyler Cloyd (1-1, 4.95) faces righty Matt Harvey (3-5, 2.92) tonight. Cloyd has struggled in two straight starts, allowing seven runs on 12 hits over seven innings. In each of his last two starts he has allowed a three-run homer. Lefties are hitting 379/455/621 against him so far. Harvey struck out ten Nationals in five innings in his most recent start. Cloyd and Harvey faced each other on August 29, which was Cloyd’s first start of the season. The Mets won that game 3-2.