Don't Believe What You Read: The Phillies Bullpen Has Been Awesome

by David S. Cohen on May 5, 2011 2:35 PM EDT

It's almost obligatory at this point. When you read a general story about the Phillies, it'll talk about the amazing four aces. It'll talk about the offense that is aging but that should still be adequate, especially once Utley returns. It'll talk about the big question mark in right field.

And it will say the bullpen is [insert negative adjective here].

But can we cut that crap please? Yes, Brad Lidge, Jose Contreras, and J.C. Romero are on or have spent significant time on the disabled list. And yes, David Herndon has struggled. But does anyone writing about the Phillies bullpen even look at the stats and what the bullpen has actually done?

Well, for those who haven't, here's what this horrible, troubled, subpar, and downright awful group of pitchers has done:

ERA: 2.79, 4th in the NL, 5th in the majors

BAA: .219, 3rd in the NL, 7th in the majors

OPS: .625, 4th in the NL, 7th in the majors

WHIP: 1.27, 7th in the NL, 11th in the majors

Now, there's no guarantee they'll keep this up, and more advanced stats like FIP and xFIP put the Phillies more in the middle of the pack in both leagues. But, even if they're better at evaluating what this crew has done, can we quit it with calling them by every negative descriptor out there?

This bullpen has been very solid, if not awesome. Get it right.

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Comments

Kendrick, Baez, and Herndon definitely brought the FIP/xFIP down, hopefully they won’t be pitching in October

by byosti on May 5, 2011 2:39 PM EDT reply actions

+1

These young guys are pitching very well so far!!

ITS OUR YEAR!!

by PHILLYBOY1978 on May 5, 2011 2:42 PM EDT reply actions

Bastardo has been one of the most exciting developments of the season. When the postseason rolls around (knocks on wood), with good health the bullpen will feature Blanton, Worley (possibly), Romero, Contreras, Bastardo, Madsen, and Lidge. With our starters I feel pretty comfortable with that pen.

by Dpez71 on May 5, 2011 2:49 PM EDT reply actions

Stutes def. shoulda made the club outta ST imo. But glad he’s pitching good now.

Season Ticket Holder - Supporters Section of the Philadelphia Union
Philadelphia Eagles Season Ticket Holder
Rutgers University Meteorology Undergrad

by ayydamn on May 5, 2011 2:53 PM EDT reply actions

When I saw they sent Herndon down I checked out baseball-reference.com to see what his stats were and others in the pen.

That is when I realized just how good (sans Herndon) they have been this year.

"Call me dumb, call me stupid, whatever. I block shots."
@boknows71

by boknows71 on May 5, 2011 3:02 PM EDT reply actions

And a really nice thing about the ‘pen – they’ve pitched the second-fewest innings in baseball (77.3 compared to Tampa’s 77.0). That keeps them fresh while they’re being good.

by David S. Cohen on May 5, 2011 3:04 PM EDT reply actions

The relatively low mileage on Madson’s arm especially.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on May 5, 2011 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions

The media likes to go to its familiarity well on lots of things: Flyers goaltending, CBP is a bandbox, the bullpen stinks, etc.

Aristotle was not Belgian, the principle of Buddhism is not "every man for himself", and the London Underground is not a political movement.

by doubleh on May 5, 2011 3:19 PM EDT reply actions

and Philadelphia fans suck

by David S. Cohen on May 5, 2011 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions

But we’re great at being Philly fans.

"Call me dumb, call me stupid, whatever. I block shots."
@boknows71

by boknows71 on May 5, 2011 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes, that, too. Some Philadelphia fans do suck, but generally, no they don’t. Lazy media is so tiring. The articles right now about the Flyers are particularly maddening, because it shows a real lack of understanding of the game.

Aristotle was not Belgian, the principle of Buddhism is not "every man for himself", and the London Underground is not a political movement.

by doubleh on May 5, 2011 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions

The maddening thing about it is that once they form that kind of paradigm, there’s really no evidence that can possibly shake them out of it – they can always find a way to spin it so that it fits into their preconceptions.

Like how every time there’s a violent fan incident in some city other than Philadelphia, writers just add a joke about how “He must have thought he was in Philadelphia!” Every single time.

by taco pal on May 5, 2011 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe we should do some reverse psychology? Next time there’s a fight at a Philly sports event we can all say “and it wasn’t even Dodger Stadium!”

I came, I saw, I conquered

by Veni Vidi Vici on May 5, 2011 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Sadly, it’s come to the point where even the good acts of Philadelphia fans are contrasted with past poor behavior as rote reporting: “And these fans – the same ones that threw batteries at J.D. Drew – are working on the new orphanage…”

"Ninety percent of this game is half mental" - Yogi Berra (SI, May 14, 1979)

by bandwagonesque on May 5, 2011 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Good ol’ cognitive dissonance.

by Cormican on May 6, 2011 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions

I am about to go through the game logs to confirm this but I’ve watched every game this year, and I can not recall (with the exception possibly of the 14 inning game the other night, and to me, anythime you go past the 11th inning it’s gonna be a crapshoot)) where we lost a game BECAUSE of the bullpen.

(And by that I mean, we went to the pen either up or down by two or three runs and the bullpen let go of the lead, or blew up and we would have come back if they held…)

by Joecatz on May 5, 2011 3:51 PM EDT reply actions

I’d say the only game they lost because of the bullpen was the first game against Florida, when Dobbs batted against Baez in the 7th (when Oswalt was lifted early with back spasms). Kendrick’s extra-inning losses sucked, but, as you suggest, when you’re relying on Kendrick to go long, you’re asking for trouble. The offense lost those two games.

by yolacrary on May 5, 2011 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, tthats the only one thats glaring, and I don’t blame Baez for that one. If you remember Morrison had that fluke single back to Romero, Baez walked The next guy, gave up a single to lad the bases, got a pop up for the first out, and Charlie left him in, and dobbs singled in two runs. Baez has no business coming in in that situation anyway.

But out of 29 games, we can find 1. Thats pretty damn good.

Kendrick has thrown one bad inning all year, against Milwaukee in that EI game. He also hadn’t thrown in 10 days, and he was all over the place. But still, it was the 12th inning.

That said, When Kendrick is pitching in the 12th inning twice in april, I think thats more on the offense than the bullpen, no?

The Mets game he threw 3 innings and gave up one run.

by Joecatz on May 5, 2011 4:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Owalt’s last game against Arizona seems to meet the criteria. Obviously if we are going to ‘blame’ anyone it would be Oswalt, but we were technically down only 3 runs when he left and the offense scored three runs after he left. Expecting the bullpen to pitch 6 scoreless innings just to get it to extras is expecting a bit much though.

I certainly agree that the bullpen has been very good so far this year. Twice they gave up 3 runs in the ninth with large leads or else they’d have the best bullpen era in the NL[but I’m sure the same argument could be made for other bullpen’s and I’m not going to go through every team].

by pretzalz on May 5, 2011 5:12 PM EDT up reply actions

the bullpen

is the place for relief pitchers

THEY HANG OUT WITH ACTUAL BULLS?

canadas marriage is like their money, or military, no one takes it seriously

by bot on May 5, 2011 4:46 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Ok can this “person” be removed from our midst?

by Phrozen on May 5, 2011 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions

I kinda enjoy him.

The Good Phight, Big Black Kids, fun!

by FuquaManuel on May 5, 2011 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Controversial. Like our own Jackson Pollock.

by taco pal on May 5, 2011 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions

I say we keep it for a while. I wonder how it works.

Why look'st thou so?' -"With my crossbow
I shot the Albatross."

by RememberthePhitans on May 5, 2011 5:48 PM EDT up reply actions

more like Andy Warhol, IMO.

Warhol : anti-film :: bot : anti-post

by perfectdepth on May 5, 2011 9:07 PM EDT up reply actions

except i deliver factual knowledge

canadas marriage is like their money, or military, no one takes it seriously

by bot on May 5, 2011 9:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Flesh for Frankenstein wasn’t a documentary?

by perfectdepth on May 5, 2011 11:36 PM EDT up reply actions

In the same way John Lannan delivers wins.

by Phrozen on May 6, 2011 3:29 AM EDT up reply actions

Lannan does deliver wins, from a certain point of view.

by taco pal on May 6, 2011 11:30 AM EDT up reply actions

Late to the party

I was out of town last week when this was posted. Before today’s mini-fiasco of 3 ER in 3 IP the bullpen had appeared in 32 games and had an ERA of 2.77, 3rd best in the majors, BAA of .223, 8th best; OPS of .644, 9th best; and WHIP of 1.30 for 14th best. None of those are anything to be ashamed of. And someone earlier mentioned the lack of blown saves and only one blown hold all season. They’re not perfect but they’re doing a good job overall.

by phillyinportland on May 14, 2011 5:23 PM EDT reply actions