Phillies Breakfast Links, September 9, 2009: Armchair Psychiatry, Schmidt Wavering?, "Too Many Homers" Club

by WholeCamels on Sep 9, 2009 8:40 AM EDT

Baseball Prospectus | Ahead in the Count: Home-Field Advantage, Part Five
The Good Phight's Blogger Emeritus Matt Swartz with the last part of his five-parter on home-field advantage. Subscription required.

Happ, Eyre head list of injured pitchers
Soreness in the pitching elbow is always a wonderful sign.

Stutes, R-Phils take aim at Aeros in playoff opener
Reading Phillies in the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

Philadelphia Phillies are playing Weaverball Lite, waiting for the three-run home run
Runs are runs.

PHILLIES JOIN ELITE LIST OF HR HITTERS
First team with four 30 HR hitters since the 2006 White Sox, and the 12th in history.

Phillies in league of their own in terms of losing
You can always count on a Pittsburgh inferiority complex swipe at Philadelphia, which is really funny when you think about it.

Mixed messages muddle a rocky closer situation in Philly
Stop talking about "closer mentality." Look, I could have closer mentality, but my 65 MPH fastball isn't fooling anyone. You need someone on the mound who can simply get outs. Finding the most psychologically perfect person for the "role" is a luxury this team can't afford right now.

Keep an eye on 2010 Pigs
Drabek, Taylor, and Brown = Lots of drives to Allentown for me.

Good Ol' Boy Manuel is clear he didn't quit on the Indians
Q&A with Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

Schmidt unsure of Rose's future

"I'll always be Pete's friend, but I think he needs to show more remorse for what he did to the game," Schmidt said. "Pete's always been Pete. He's stubborn. He lives a more exciting lifestyle than me and I can't be around him all the time to check up on him."

Interesting.

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Small ball redux

I think we need a shout out to Bilzo, or should we call him Kreskin? He noted this on yesterday’s thread. Sort of sounds like last night’s game…

If all you do is hit the long ball, it would seem you need to hit 5 solo shots a game to win (since scoring 4 runs is a loss for the phils). Assuming every other AB is an out, you would need to hit 5 HR / 32 PA, or one every 6.4 ABs.

by Boundforbeach on Sep 9, 2009 11:46 AM EDT reply actions

Lidge still attempted to derail this logic.

by Bilzo on Sep 9, 2009 2:02 PM EDT up reply actions

+30 HR 4-player hittin' teams

Per the Inquirer a vast majority were post 1995, with one interesting exception (relevant to my moniker), the 1977 Dodgers.

Anyone want to take a shot in the dark why this is? Or is comparing eras always a push? Ah, I’m just needling you guys.

by Wet Luzinski on Sep 9, 2009 5:54 PM EDT reply actions

1977 = expansion year?

Even though the Blue Jays and Mariners were both AL teams, maybe there were talent dilution issues on the pitching side?

I dunno.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Sep 9, 2009 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Losing envy?

Actually that was a pretty good article by Gene Collier from the Pittsburgh Press-Gazette about the Phillies – I don’t think he’s taking a swipe at Philadelphia as much as pointing out that as bad as Pirates fans have it now, Phillies fans have had to endure much worse. I got the sense he’d grown up a Phillies fan and knew what he was talking about.

by phillyinportland on Sep 10, 2009 1:40 AM EDT reply actions

Correction

I goofed the name of the paper: Post-Gazette. I also had a look back at the Phillies totals from 2007, which for some reason I thought had four guys with 30 HRs – but it turned out Aaron Rowand ended up with 27, while Howard, Burrell, and Rollins reached 30. Looks like a good chance this will be a new record for home runs for the team: 2006, with 216, is currently the all-time high.

by phillyinportland on Sep 10, 2009 1:59 AM EDT up reply actions