Have I Mentioned I Hate Interleague Play?

by dajafi on Jun 19, 2008 11:23 AM EDT

Following the Phillies’ spanking at the hands of the Red Sox on Wednesday, the club is 2-4 in interleague contests this season. With matchups against the Angels, A’s and Rangers—but not the cellar-dwelling Mariners—on tap for the next nine games, things might not improve very much. Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus had a great column on Monday describing how the unbalanced interleague schedule distorts the playoff races, including a note that the two games by which the 2001 Phillies fell short of the Braves for the NL East championship was covered by the difference in the teams’ interleague records. Interleague made the difference for the Phils' playoff hopes five years later as well. In 2006, the Phillies missed the wild card by three games as the Padres and Dodgers both made the playoffs with identical 88-74 records; the Phils went 5-13 in interleague that year, while San Diego went 7-8, 3.5 games better.

But I have to admit that it’s really the team’s awful interleague record over the 12 seasons since Bud Selig decided this would be fun that drives my disdain. Through yesterday, the Phillies are 88-102 against AL opponents, for a winning percentage of .463. That's tied with the Brewers for 12th of the 16 NL clubs, better than only the Pirates, Reds and Padres. (See here for 1997-2007 interleague records.)

Overall since 1997, the Phillies are 927-928 (.4997, or .500). In NL-only games since then, they’re 839-826 (.504). I suspect the revenue boost from hosting the Red Sox and Yankees probably makes the novelty more appealing to the team's ownership, but for competitive purposes, it's been a lemon.

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I don’t recall the year but the Phils played the Yankees and Sox and the Tomahawk Choppers played Tampa and some other scrub like Baltimore , I dunno. At any rate not a word said by the Phillies. The following year Braves (on paper) had a tougher schedule and your fav Brave Larry raised a stink. Yes it sucks. So does the DH for that matter. I see and understand why the Yankees are pissed over Wangs “How not to run the bases clinic” but Girardi came out and said it was time for the NL to get with the modern era, no asshole it’s time for the AL to drop the DH and play the game as it’s been played for over 100 years. Don’t get me started on the inbalanced schedule, it sucks too.

by Steve-O- on Jun 19, 2008 7:26 PM EDT 0 recs

The DH

I love how our friend Hank said that making the pitchers take at bats is a rule from the 1800s. There’s some other rules from that era that are still widely used… Namely taking a wooden stick and hitting a leather ball around, and pretty much every other basic rule in baseball. This is insane. The NL plays the game the way it was meant to be played. Yes, I can understand not being happy that your star pitcher goes down for 6 weeks. But please. He was running… It’s not like he was breaking up a double play or plowing into the catcher to score the winning run. He could have hurt himself jogging in the outfield before the game. If a grown man can’t WALK at an increased pace, maybe he has no business on a major league mound. And God forbid we have guys that are making millions of dollars, ya know, play the top and the bottom of the inning. What’s next? I mean there’s lots of guys that get hurt running into the wall or diving in the outfield… must need designated fielders as well.

by foos05 on Jun 20, 2008 8:08 AM EDT up 0 recs

I think Stark yesterday had the note that Wang’s injury was literally the first by an AL pitcher batting or running in the 12 years of interleague play.

by dajafi on Jun 20, 2008 11:56 AM EDT 0 recs

let's not forget...

i’d say Bartolo’s strained back while flailing at Cole’s pitches trumps Wang as the first ever interleague-related injury

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by king myno on Jun 20, 2008 3:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

No game thread tonight, but I wasn’t around for this one anyways—and I sure am glad.

I am starting to get worried about this teams inability to hit good pitching as well as the pitching staffs (save Hamels) inability to hold up against decent lineups. Altogether I don’t think the fact that this team has been having so much difficulty recently against good teams bodes well for our playoff future if we are able to make it.

by FuquaManuel on Jun 20, 2008 10:06 PM EDT 0 recs

I did set up a game thread yesterday afternoon. Not sure why it didn’t go live at 6.30.

by dajafi on Jun 21, 2008 1:08 PM EDT up 0 recs