Leavened with stat notes...
Ryan Madson has been true savior for first-place Phillies
Time to Move On in Philadelphia?
Putting Move and Philadelphia in the same title made me do a double-take. One interesting note:
As bad as Ibanez has been this year, his current contact profile at the plate is similar to his 2009 season.
By the way, Raul's Home-Away splits so far this year:
Home OPS: .855 (.312/.361/.494)
Away OPS: .391 (.145/.203/.188)
Four is a magic number
Updated records...
When scoring 4 or more: 17-2
When scoring 0-3: 9-15
NL FIP/xFIP rankings
FIP: 1) Halladay, 3) Hamels, 6) Lee
xFIP: 1) Halladay, 3) Hamels, 4) Lee
Stroll through the stats: RBI guys
The article notes that Ryan Howard leads the majors with the most runners on base when he's been at bat (yeah, I was surprised too), and so his % of those baserunners driven in, or OBI% is ok but not great (related link: Leadoff Rankings: Week 7).
Since the article is focused on this year, it doesn't say that Howard had the 6th highest OBI% in 2006-2010 (out of 342 qualifiers with 1000+ PAs), or the 4th highest in 2007-2010 (out of 345 players with 800+).
(more after the jump)
Howard's SplitsHis platoon differential is back with a vengeance (SSS, 57 PAs vs. LHPs)...
| OPS | RHP | LHP | Diff |
| 2005 | 1.041 | .421 | .620 |
| 2006 | 1.164 | .922 | .242 |
| 2007 | 1.072 | .826 | .246 |
| 2008 | .967 | .745 | .222 |
| 2009 | 1.088 | .654 | .434 |
| 2010 | .876 | .826 | .051 |
| 2011 | .890 | .588 | .302 |
Booooring!
Last night marked the end of 8 straight Phillies games in which NEITHER team scored more than 5 runs. That happened once last year, Aug 23-30. The streak of neither team scoring more than 7 now stands at 18. The longest such streak last year was 9: Aug 22-30.
Jose Bautista Facts
and...
Time to admire Jose Bautista's greatness
and the Phils will face him for 3 straight day games (!) on July 1-3
Interleague Play Begins
It actually takes place mostly in the weeks before the ASG, but this weekend provides a preview. Looking back at the balance of power between the leagues:
The NL started strong in the late '90s, before the AL eventually evened the record in 2001. The two leagues went back and forth for a few years, then the AL started winning convincingly in 2005, and passed the NL in cumulative wins in 2006. The AL's dominance showed slight weakening last year, and NL fans will look for that trend to continue.
| Year | Best Record | American League | National League | AL Pct | NL Pct | AL Cum. | NL Cum. | AL Cum % |
| 1997 | National | 97 | 117 | .453 | .547 | 97 | 117 | .453 |
| 1998 | American | 114 | 110 | .509 | .491 | 211 | 227 | .482 |
| 1999 | National | 116 | 135 | .462 | .538 | 327 | 362 | .475 |
| 2000 | American | 136 | 115 | .542 | .458 | 463 | 477 | .493 |
| 2001 | American | 132 | 120 | .524 | .476 | 595 | 597 | .499 |
| 2002 | National | 123 | 129 | .488 | .512 | 718 | 726 | .497 |
| 2003 | National | 115 | 137 | .456 | .544 | 833 | 863 | .491 |
| 2004 | American | 126 | 125 | .502 | .498 | 959 | 988 | .493 |
| 2005 | American | 136 | 116 | .540 | .460 | 1,095 | 1,104 | .498 |
| 2006 | American | 154 | 98 | .611 | .389 | 1,249 | 1,202 | .510 |
| 2007 | American | 137 | 115 | .544 | .456 | 1,386 | 1,317 | .513 |
| 2008 | American | 149 | 103 | .591 | .409 | 1,535 | 1,420 | .519 |
| 2009 | American | 138 | 114 | .548 | .452 | 1,673 | 1,534 | .522 |
| 2010 | American | 134 | 118 | .532 | .468 | 1,807 | 1,652 | .522 |
Joe Maddon joins list of interleague critics
I don't have strong feelings about interleague play, but on the whole I think I'd like to see it continue. What I do wish would change is the unbalanced schedule (18 vs. the NL East, 6-9 vs. all others).