Tag: Ryan Howard

It’s not the only reason the Phillies have been getting worse on the bases, but it’s a big piece

Quick — across both leagues, who’s the player who has hurt his team the most on the bases over the past three seasons? Hint: if you’re a Phillies fan, you probably saw him hobbling around the bases quite a bit in 2012.

The bad news is he wasn’t coming off of a major achilles injury in 2010 or 2011.

Here are Ryan Howard’s base running runs above average as calculated by FanGraphs over the past three seasons:

Year Base Running Rank MLB players
2010 -7.1 946 of 948
2011 -9.3 935 of 936
2012 -5.6 952 of 962
’10 to ’12 -22.0 1399 of 1399

Howard’s -5.6 in 2012 was his best mark of the three years, but it’s hard to see that as a mark of much hope. Howard got just 292 plate appearances in ’12 — less than half of what he got in ’10 or ’11. If he accumulated base running runs above (below) average at his 2012 rate over 600 plate appearances, he would have been at about -11.5 for the year.

No doubt about it that Howard was coming off of a major injury in 2012. Less sure about how much that injury could have been impacting him in 2010 and 2011.

Over the last three years, there have only been five players whose total base running runs below average has been worse than -15.8 overall — David Ortiz (-19.7), Billy Butler (-19.7), Prince Fielder (-19.8), Paul Konerko (-21.5) and Howard (-22.0).

Even with only about half a season of plate appearances in 2012, Howard’s base running from 2010 to 2012 is still worse than Phillie-poster-boy-for-bad-on-the-bases Pat Burrell’s horrendous base running during Burrell’s worst years.

Year Base Running Year Base running
Hoawrd 2010 -7.1 Burrell 2005 -8.8
Howard 2011 -9.3 Burrell 2006 -5.3
Howard 2012 -5.6 Burrell 2007 -4.2
Howard ’10 to ’12 -22.0 Burrell ’05 to ’07 -18.3

At the height of his base running suck, 2005 to 2007, Burrell got 1,834 plate appearances with a total base running runs below average of -18.3. Over the last three years, Howard has 1,556 plate appearances and a base running runs below average of -22.0.

There’s not a whole ton of silver lining on the Ryan Howard base running front, but there are guys who have been worse on the bases than he has in recent history. Looking at three-year periods going back to 2000, here’s the player who had the best and worst base running runs above average as calculated by FanGraphs:

Years Worst Best
2010-2012 Howard -22.0 Michael Bourn 28.6
2009-2011 Konerko (tie) -20.7 Bourn 33.9
Carlos Lee (tie) -20.7
2008-2010 Fielder -23.4 Bourn 25.0
2007-2009 Kendry Morales -20.1 Rollins 26.6
2006-2008 Bengie Molina -18.9 Ichiro 28.5
2005-2007 Bengie Molina -19.7 Figgins 29.1
2004-2006 Luis Gonzalez -20.5 Crawford 25.7
2003-2005 Alex Gonzalez -22.5 Beltran 29.5
2002-2004 Alex Gonzalez -22.3 Beltran 30.6
2001-2003 Alex Gonzalez -17.8 Beltran 24.1
2000-2002 Alex Gonzalez -10.0 Jeter 15.4

So from 2008 to 2010, Prince Fielder (-23.4) was worse than Howard (-22.0) ’10 to ’12. Prior to that, you’ve got to go back to Alex Gonzalez (the other one) from ’03 to ’05 to find a three-year period where someone out-worsened Howard’s ’10 to ’12 over a three-year period. Gonzalez also did it ’02 to ’04. Alex Gonzalez had a whole bunch of problems trying to steal bases from 2000 to 2005, playing for five different teams and getting caught 24 times, picked off nine and stealing just 34 bases.

At least Howard doesn’t get caught stealing. He’s got 12 stolen bases for his career and has been caught just four times (picked off three).

On the other side of the table, Jimmy Rollins was the best running in baseball by base running runs above average from 2007 to 2009 with 26.6. And again, Michael Bourn demonstrates that he brings a lot of value with what he does with his defense and on the bases as he appears atop the list for 2008 to 2010, 2009 to 2011 and 2010 to 2012.

From 2008 to 2012, Bourn’s base running runs above average is 44.7. That leads all players across both leagues and nobody else is close. Ian Kinsler is second at 32.5 and Victorino third at 31.0.

Todd Zolecki suggests the chances the Phillies will land Josh Hamilton are pretty slim.

In the same piece, he also suggests the Rangers would have traded young third baseman Mike Olt for Hamels last year, but that he’s not sure they would trade him for Cliff Lee at this point.

The deadline for setting the 40-man roster ahead of the Rule V draft was last night. Matt Gelb speculated on who the Phillies might protect in this article.

The Phillies added four players to their 40-man roster in advance of the December 6 Rule V draft, including outfielder Zach Collier and pitchers Trevor May, Ethan Martin and Jonathan Pettibone. They now have 38 players on their 40-man roster, including six outfielders, five of which are left-handed.

This suggests the Phillies may have interest in free agent Koji Uehara. The 37-year-old right-handed reliever threw to a 1.75 ERA with an 0.64 ratio for Texas in 2012, striking out 43 in 36 innings. He missed about two months last year with a problem with his right lat. He returned at the end of August and made 17 appearances between that time and the end of the season, throwing to a 1.23 ERA over 14 2/3 innings while striking out 21 and holding opponents to a .160 on-base percentage.


Sprechen sie ut oh?

There are several different ways to calculate WAR, but no matter which language you choose, the non-pitchers for the Phillies were cause for concern in 2012.

The table below shows the WAR by position for the Phillies over the past five seasons as calculated by FanGraphs. Next to each WAR is the NL Rank for the team that year at the position.

Please note: WAR as calculated by FanGraphs differs, often dramatically, from WAR as calculated by Baseball-Reference. The WAR values in the table below are from FanGraphs, but the WAR values discussed below the table come primarily from Baseball-Reference. Links to recent interesting articles on the differences between WAR as calculated by the two sites are at the bottom of the post.

Position ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08
C 7.1 (2) 2.6 (9) 5.3 (3) 3.3 (3) 2.2 (10)
SS 4.9 (2) 3.9 (4) 2.3 (10) 3.2 (6) 5.7 (4)
2B 3.7 (4) 3.4 (3) 6.7 (2) 7.5 (1) 8.2 (1)
CF 2.7 (10) 8.4 (2) 3.9 (12) 4.3 (8) 4.4 (7)
LF 2.8 (11) 1.2 (15) 2.4 (10) 4.6 (5) 2.8 (10)
3B 2.4 (11) 2.5 (10) 3.3 (7) 1.5 (11) 2.6 (11)
RF 1.2 (15) 2.2 (14) 6.2 (3) 5.9 (1) 5.7 (4)
1B -0.8 (16) 1.1 (13) 2.0 (10) 4.7 (5) 3.0 (7)

So there were three of the eight positions at which the Phillies were better than tenth in the 16-team National League.

Four seasons ago, in 2009, the Phillies were in the top half of the league at every position other than third base.

First the good:

At catcher, the Buster Posey-led Giants are the only team to put up a better overall WAR than the Phillies in 2012. The Phillies have been in the top three at the position in three of the last four years. In 2011, Ruiz recorded his worst dWAR of the five seasons (as calculated by Baseball-Reference) at 0.8. It was also his worst offensive season of the past three as he slugged just .383. In 2008, Ruiz was terrible offensively, hitting .219 in his 373 plate appearances as the Phils were tenth in the league at WAR at the position.

The Phils were also second in the league at FanGraphs-calculated WAR at short in 2012, topped only by the Nationals. There’s really only been one bad year for the team at the position over the last five seasons. In 2010, Rollins got less than 400 plate appearances for the only time in the last 12 seasons. Wilson Valdez fared okay trying to pick up the slack, but Juan Castro was a lot less impressive as he on-based .250 in his 101 plate appearances as a shortstop for the year. FanGraphs calculated WAR for Rollins for 2012 is much higher than Baseball-Reference’s. FanGraphs has him at 4.9, which ties him for 27th among non-pitchers across both leagues. Baseball-Reference calculates his WAR at 2.3, which ties him for 106th. The chart above reflects the FanGraph numbers, which suggest he was an elite player in 2012. Again, this is one of the three positions at which the Phillies were non-terrible in 2012 and there is disagreement about how good their primary player at the position actually was.

At second base, the Phillies have been in the top four for each of the past five years. Utley’s WAR as calculated by Baseball-Reference topped out at 8.8 in 2008. He’s likely never going back up there again, but his work at the position has been enough to keep the Phils in the top quarter of the NL over the last several years. Also, as a side note — in 2008, Utley and his 8.8 WAR (second-best in baseball) finished 14th in NL MVP voting. Howard’s WAR that year was 1.5 and he finished second. Pujols won it, and should have, but Utley should have been a lot higher than 14th.

After catcher, second and short, things get real ugly, real fast.

Center field was the next best position for the Phils in 2012 and they were tenth in the league there. Victorino was a monster in 2011, putting up a (Baseball-Reference) overall WAR of 5.2 in the best year of his career. He was way off that pace in 2012, though, and Mayberry was pretty bad after he left. The Phillies seem to have no in-house solution to what is now a big problem in center field.

Eleventh in left. Tenth or worse for the third straight year. 2009 is the only year of the last five that the Phillies have been non-terrible overall at the position. In ’09, Ibanez put up the best WAR (Baseball-Reference) of his last six seasons at 2.7. It was the only year of the last six where his dWAR has been better than -1 (it was -0.8). In 2010 he was bad for the Phillies and in 2011 he was terrible — a dWAR of -3.1 and an oWAR of just 0.1. Juan Pierre was the guy who got most of the time in left in 2012, the first year after Ibanez left. His overall WAR for the year was 1.9, good enough for fourth-best on the team among the non-pitchers, but not enough to lead the Phils anywhere better than eleventh.

They were also eleventh at third base, the fourth year of the last five in which they have been tenth or worse. Polanco was very solid in 2010, putting up a (Baseball-Reference) WAR of 3.1. In 2011, his dWAR stayed about the same as 2010 (1.2 in ’11, 1.4 in ’10), but his oWAR dropped from 1.9 to 0.7 as he hit 277/335/339 with just 19 extra-base hits in 523 plate appearances. Polanco got significant time at third in ’12, putting up an oWAR of 0, a dWAR of 0.4 and losing significant time to Kevin Frandsen. Frandsen’s WAR of 1.5 (in just 210 plate appearances) was good enough for fifth-best among the team’s non-pitchers, but not good enough to get the Phillies any higher than eleventh relative to the rest of the NL for the season at the position. Feliz got most of the time at third in ’08 and ’09, with some help from Greg Dobbs. Neither did a whole lot and the Phillies were eleventh at the position both years, although Feliz had a good year defensively in ’09, putting up a dWAR of 1.2. Feliz on-based .306 over 1,088 plate appearances for the Phils between 2008 and ’09.

You don’t have to study the right field numbers too carefully to see that the Phillies have struggled to replace Jayson Werth. Led by Werth, the Phils topped the NL in WAR at the position in 2009 and were third in 2010. He signed with the Nationals for the 2011 season and the numbers took a dive. Francisco got the gig to start ’11 and bombed in spectacular fashion, putting up an oWAR of 0.0 and a dWAR of -1.3 and losing the job. Hunter Pence played part of ’11 with the Phils and part of ’12. He posted negative dWARs in both years with better luck offensively. 2.2 (oWAR)/-0.3 (dWAR) in 2011 and 1.2/-1.1 in 2012. Domonic Brown hasn’t inspired a lot of confidence yet he can get the job done in right, either. So far for his career he has an UZR/150 of -21.7 in 871 innings in right to go with his overall batting line of 236/315/388.

First base may be the single biggest problem for the Phillies, where they have committed an enormous amount of money to Ryan Howard. They were 16th of 16 in the NL in 2012 and FanGraphs has them no better than tenth over the last three seasons. Howard was hurt in 2012, but he got 644 plate appearances in 2011 and 620 in 2010 and the Phils didn’t do better than tenth in either year. He has always been terrible at defense, over the last seven seasons his dWARs have ranged from -1 to -2.8, and thanks largely to that he has put an overall WAR better than three just twice in his career. In 2006 he hit 58 home runs with a WAR of 5.0. In 2009 he hit 45 with a WAR of 3.5. In 2012, his oWAR joined his dWAR in negative territory at -0.6. Wigginton was also miserable trying to pick up the slack at the position with Howard missing much of the season, hitting just 235/314/375 for the year with a UZR/150 at first of -8.5 (which is 30th among the 36 players across both leagues who played at least 450 innings at first in 2012).

This article talks about differences in the calculation of WAR by Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs. More on that subject here, as Jimmy Rollins appears on a list of the players whose WAR as calculated by FanGraphs differs dramatically from their WAR as calculated by Baseball-Reference.


No, you don’t understand: we really, really want a pitcher and not a belly-itcher

Here are the combined WAR, oWAR and dWAR for the non-pitchers for the Phillies over the past ten years as calculated by Baseball-Reference:

Year WAR oWAR dWAR
2012 15.0 14.0 1.0
2011 14.2 19.9 -5.4
2010 21.3 21.8 -0.6
2009 26.3 24.6 2.0
2008 27.3 20.3 7.0
2007 31.1 27.3 3.7
2006 20.0 21.6 -2.1
2005 27.7 18.8 8.9
2004 22.1 20.8 1.4
2003 25.8 24.0 2.1

So that’s bad, generally, although overall WAR for the non-pitchers actually improved from 2011 to 2012. Coming into the season, it had been down from the previous year for four straight seasons.

It was up in 2012 despite the fact that the oWAR for the team was worse than 2011 (14.0 in ’12 compared to 19.9 in ’11). It was the dWAR that improved dramatically, going from -5.4 in 2011 to 1.0 in 2012.

That’s where the good news ends, though. In both 2011 and 2012, the combined WAR for the non-pitchers was less than half of what it was in 2007. In 2007, the Phils were first in the NL in oWAR and second in dWAR.

In 2008, the team’s dWAR was 7.0, which was best in the NL. By 2010, the defense had slipped a lot and was down to -0.6. Howard put up a -2.3 dWAR that year and ugliness from Ibanez (-2.0) and Werth (-1.2) contributed as well. By 2011 the problem was even more dramatic as the team’s dWAR of -5.4 was third worst among the 16 NL teams. Again, Ibanez (-3.1) and Howard (-2.4) led the anti-charge, joined by Francisco (-1.3) and Brown (-1.2).

This Phils bounced back some in 2012. Ibanez and Francisco left. Brown got a little better. Howard played less and posted a dWAR of just -1, which was his best mark since 2005 (although Wigginton and Nix didn’t help much filling in for him at first). Freddy Galvis was solid defensively when he played.

The oWAR for the last ten seasons peaked in 2007 at 27.3. The Phillies led the NL in runs scored that year with 892. Their oWAR of 27.3 led the league and it wasn’t real close. The Mets were second at 22.7. Utley (5.9), Rollins (5.5), Rowand (4.5), Howard (3.2) and Burrell (3.0) all put up an oWAR of three or better that season.

The oWAR of 14.0 for the Phillies in 2012 was the lowest it has been since 2000, when the team’s oWAR for the year was an NL-worst 6.7. That was remarkable in that the Phillies had two players with an oWAR of 3.6 or better for the season — Abreu at 4.6 and Rolen at 3.6. The Phillies had ten players that year who got at least 100 plate appearances and put up a negative oWAR.


Phils holding out hope WAR really is good for absolutely nothing

The Phillies had 25 non-pitchers who appeared for them in 2012.

The table below shows, for each of the 25, their plate appearances and WAR, oWAR and dWAR as calculated by Baseball-Reference and their wOBA and UZR/150 as calculated by FanGraphs (Baseball-Reference reminds that oWAR plus dWAR does not equal WAR).

PA WAR oWAR wOBA dWAR UZR/150
Carlos Ruiz 421 4.4 4 .398 1 C: no rating at 856 1/3 innings
Chase Utley 362 2.9 2 .347 1.1 2B: 11.4 in 720 1/3 innings
Jimmy Rollins 699 2.3 3.1 .328 0 SS: 4.9 in 1364 innings
Juan Pierre 439 1.9 1.6 .332 -0.1 LF: -0.4 in 799 2/3 innings
Kevin Frandsen 210 1.5 1.3 .358 0.3 3B: 0.3 in 442 2/3 innings
Erik Kratz 157 1.4 0.7 .337 0.9 C: no rating in 343 1/3 innings
Shane Victorino 431 1.3 1.5 .325 0 CF: 0.9 in 883 2/3 innings
Hunter Pence 440 0.7 1.2 .339 -1.1 RF: -13.5 in 901 2/3 innings
Freddy Galvis 200 0.6 -0.4 .266 1.1 2B: 11.3 in 416 innings
John Mayberry 479 0.5 0.2 .302 -0.1 CF: -20.7 in 474 1/3 innings; LF: 5.4 in 330 innings
Jim Thome 71 0.4 0.3 .362 0 1B: -.1 in 27 innings
Placido Polanco 328 0.3 0 .278 0.4 3B: 8.1 in 664 2/3 innings
Darin Ruf 37 0.3 0.3 .426 0 LF: -4.9 in 46 innings; 1B: 36.7 in 26 innings
Laynce Nix 127 0.1 0 .316 -0.2 1B: -17.7 in 72 1/3 inn; LF: 45.3 in 67; CF: -52.8 in 23; RF: 13.7 in 64
Mike Fontenot 105 0.1 0 .293 0.2 2B: .7 in 132 innings; 3B: 3.9 in 77 innings
Pete Orr 57 0.1 0.1 .336 0 3B: 52.7 in 14 innings; 2B: -17.6 in 70 1/3 innings
Jason Pridie 10 0.1 0.1 .418 0 CF: 39.0 in 9 innings
Brian Schneider 98 0 0.1 .282 0.1 C: No rating in 228 2/3 innings
Hector Luna 66 0 -0.1 .275 0.1 1B: 25.4 in 70 1/3 innings; 3B: -32.9 in 7 innings
Nate Schierholtz 73 -0.1 0 .305 -0.2 CF: -67.8 in 44 innings; RF: 17.3 in 122 1/3 innings
Steven Lerud 10 -0.1 -0.1 .176 0 C: No rating in 23 innings
Michael Martinez 122 -0.2 -0.8 .196 0.6 2B: -29.6 in 121; 3B: 22.7 in 70 1/3; SS: 37.0 in 51; OF: 100.1 in 51
Domonic Brown 212 -1 -0.4 .307 -0.9 RF: -8.9 in 308 LF: -5.8 in 141 2/3
innings
Ryan Howard 292 -1.2 -0.6 .301 -1 1B: -15.6 in 589 2/3 innings
Ty Wigginton 360 -1.7 -0.5 .301 -1.7 1B: -8.5 in 471 1/3 innings; 3B: -39.3 in 175 2/3; LF: -46.8 in 48 innings

By WAR, Erik Kratz was the sixth-best non-pitcher on the team for the Phillies in 2012. That there is a problem, cause he’s a 32-year-old backup catcher who got 157 plate appearances for the year.

The Phillies had three hitters with a WAR for the year of 2.0 or better. In 2011 they had five (Victorino 5.2, Utley 3.7, Ruiz 2.6, Rollins 2.4 and Pence 2.2). Pence’s 2.2 came despite getting just 236 plate appearances with the team.

Finally, the -1.2 WAR for Howard is a little problematic. Over the last three seasons, the Phillies have paid Howard about $59 million to put up WARs of 1.1 (’10), 0.9 (’11) and -1.2 (’12). He has hit 256/339/483 in 1,556 plate appearances over those three seasons.

I guess we can always hold out hope that WAR is hugely flawed and doesn’t mean anything. Fingers crossed.


Phils on their toes against the Fish (except for Howard)

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.


Sweet 16 and never been out

The Phillies dismantled the Mets last night behind fantastic pitching from Tyler Cloyd and a flood of offense. The Phils scored eight runs in the first inning on their way to a 16-1 win.

The Phillies had 21 hits in the game, only two of which went for extra-bases. Utley doubled in the sixth and Howard hit a grand slam, his second homer off of a lefty in two days, in the ninth.

Juan Pierre had a five-hit night, going 5-for-6 with five singles.

Cloyd had the best of his five starts in the majors. He needed just 88 pitches to throw eight innings, allowing one run on three hits and a pair of walks.

The Phillies are 76-74 on the year after beating the New York Mets 16-1 last night. The Phils sweep the three-game set and are in third place in the NL East, 15 1/2 games behind the first-place Nats. They remain four games out in the Wild Card chase with a 0.6% chance to make the post-season, according to the Baseball Prospectus Playoff Odds report.

Cloyd got the start for the Phillies and went eight innings, allowing a run on three hits and two walks. One of the hits went for extra-bases, a solo home run. He struck out six and dropped his ERA on the year to 3.86 after five starts.

He started the bottom of the first with an 8-0 lead and walked the leadoff man Fred Lewis. Daniel Murphy was next and Cloyd got him to ground into a double-play before David Wright singled to right. Cloyd got Ike Davis on a ground ball handled by Utley to end the inning.

You want to avoid walking the leadoff man when you’re up eight runs.

Cloyd walked Lucas Duda to start the second, but got the next three Mets to turn New York away. He struck Justin Turner out for the first out, got Mike Baxter on a fly ball to left for the second and Kelly Shoppach on a ground ball to third for the third.

Again, walking the leadoff man up eight runs is to be avoid, but again Cloyd works around it.

Cloyd threw a 1-2-3 third and a 1-2-3 fourth. He struck Duda out for the third out in the fourth.

With one out in the fifth, Baxter hit an 0-2 pitch out to right, getting the Mets on the board at 8-1. Cloyd struck Shoppach out for the second out. Jason Bay hit for the pitcher Jenrry Mejia and Cloyd struck him out as well to end the inning.

Baxter now has three home runs in 192 plate appearances for the year, all three of which have come against the Phillies. 4-for-21 against the Phils with three home runs for the season.

Lewis singled to start the sixth, but Cloyd got Murphy to ground into a double-play behind him to clear to bases. Wright grounded to third to end the inning.

Cloyd struck out Davis in a 1-2-3 seventh.

He struck out Baxter in a 1-2-3 eighth with the Phillies up 9-1.

Rosenberg started the ninth with a 16-1 lead and walked the leadoff man Lewis. Ronny Cedeno flew to right for the first out. Andres Torres grounded into a double-play to end the game.

You want to try to avoid walking the leadoff man with a 15-run lead.

Rosenberg was pitching for the first time since September 13. He has thrown five scoreless innings over his last five outings, allowing a hit and two walks while striking out five. He threw 20 pitches in the game.

The Phillies lineup against righty Jeremy Hefner went (1) Rollins (2) Pierre (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Mayberry (6) Brown (7) Frandsen (8) Kratz. Kratz catches. Pierre in left against the righty. Mayberry back hitting ahead of Brown after Brown goes 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in game two.

The first six Phillies singled in the top of the first. It left them up 3-0 with the bases loaded for Frandsen. Frandsen walked. 4-0. That was it for Hefner and righty Collin McHugh came in to pitch to Kratz. McHugh hit Kratz, forcing in another run. 5-0 with the bases still loaded for Cloyd. Cloyd grounded back to the mound and the Mets went home to first to get a double-play, leaving runners on second and third with two down for Rollins. Rollins singled again, scoring both runners. 7-0. Pierre moved Rollins up to second with another single before Utley singled as well. Rollins scored to make it 8-0 with men on first and second. Howard grounded to Turner to finally end the frame.

Nine hits for the Phillies in the frame, as well as a walk and a hit by pitch. All nine hits were singles.

The Phillies went in order in the second and again in the third.

Lefty Justin Hampson set the Phillies down in order in the fourth.

Righty Jenrry Mejia started the fifth. Brown and Frandsen singled back-to-back with one out, putting runners on first and second for Kratz. Kratz singled to left. Brown tried to score, but Duda threw him out at home on a close play at the plate for the second out. It brought Cloyd to the plate with runners on first and second. He flew to right to leave them there.

Not a great idea to get thrown out at the plate for the second out of the inning, but it took a pretty nice play from the Mets to get Brown.

The Phils led 8-1 when Robert Carson started the sixth for New York. Pierre singled with one out and moved to third when Utley followed with a double. Howard was next and hit a line drive, but Murphy made a nice play, jumping to snare the ball and throwing to second to double-off Utley.

Mayberry singled off of righty Manny Acosta to start the seventh. Brown fouled out to Wright for the first out and Frandsen hit into a double-play behind him.

Righty Elvin Ramirez walked Cloyd with one out in the eighth. Rollins popped to third for the first out before Pierre moved Cloyd up to second with a single to center. Utley was next and he singled to center as well, scoring Cloyd to make it 9-1 with two down and men on first and second. Howard flew to right for the third out.

Cloyd hits for himself in the eighth and starts the rally with a walk. Fourth hit of the day for Pierre. He raised his average for the year from .310 to .318 by going 5-for-6 with five singles.

Righty Jeurys Familia started the ninth for New York and struck the leadoff man Mayberry out for the first out. Brown followed with a single to left and was forced at second on a ground out by Frandsen for the second out. Kratz walked. Schierholtz hit for Cloyd and singled, loading the bases. Rollins walked. 10-1 with the bases still loaded. Pierre singled on a dribbler. 11-1 with the bases still loaded. Lefty Josh Edgin took over on the mound and hit Utley. 12-1, still loaded. Howard hit a 3-1 pitch out to left for a grand slam. 16-1. Mayberry flew to center to end the frame.

Utley and Howard have a whole lot more success against the lefty Edgin. For the second time in two days, Utley reaches against Edgin ahead of Howard and Howard homers.

Howard’s line against lefties for the year is up to 179/222/381.

Mayberry makes two of the three outs in the inning.

After three hitters in the frame, the Phillies had two outs and a man on first with no runs in. The next six hitters went walk, single, walk, single, hit by pitch, home run.

Rollins was 2-for-5 in the game with a walk. 4-for-11 with three walks and two home runs in the series. 254/317/436 for the year. 338/412/662 in 85 plate appearances in September.

Pierre 5-for-6 with an RBI. 5-for-9 in the series. 318/360/380 for the year. He also had five hits on October 2, 2005 and on May 8, 2005.

Utley 4-for-5 with a double and four RBI. 6-for-11 with a walk and a double in the series. 266/380/452 for the year. His line against lefties for the year isn’t exactly fantastic either — 216/330/361.

Howard 2-for-6 with a grand slam and five RBI. 3-for-14 with two home runs and seven RBI in the set. 228/303/426 for the year. 192/269/356 over his last 119 plate appearances.

Mayberry was 2-for-6 and the only starter without an RBI. 3-for-13 in the series. 259/314/420 for the year. 301/374/470 in 187 plate appearances since Victorino and Pence were traded.

Brown was 3-for-5 with an RBI. 5-for-12 with a triple and a home run in the series. 253/341/407 for the year. 302/400/605 over his last 50 plate appearances. 171/293/314 against lefties for the year.

Frandsen 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. 1-for-9 with three walks in the series. 329/386/388 for the year. 17-for-41 (.415) against lefties.

Kratz 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI in his only action of the series. 256/311/526 for the year. 3-for-his-last-25.

Kendrick (9-11, 3.95) faces righty Tommy Hanson (12-8, 4.33) tonight. Kendrick allowed four runs in five innings against the Astros in his most recent start, which was the only time in his last seven outings he’s been charged with more than two runs. Trouble getting lefties out has plagued Kendrick over his career — so far in 2012, lefties are hitting 253/336/400 against him compared to 262/305/430 for righties. Hanson has thrown to a 5.61 ERA over his last ten starts and hasn’t gone six innings in any of his last five.


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