PROJECTED WINS
Need to win only 10 of the last 22 to break the team record for wins (101 in 1976 and 1977).
At the high end, something in the 106-108 range is within the realm of possibility:
(click to enlarge)
MILESTONES
Charlie Manuel: The Phils' 92nd win on Thursday tied Manuel with the 19th century's Harry Wright for 2nd most wins by a manager in franchise history, at 636. If and when they win their 102nd, Manuel will tie Gene Mauch as the winningest Phillies manager with 646.
Raul Ibanez: his home run on Wednesday was the 250th of his career. At the moment he is at exactly 7,000 plate appearances.
A 63-year Winning Record? The success of the recent years means that the Phillies have now been an above .500 team dating back to 1961. If they win 105 games, it will not only shatter the team's single season record, but it will also extend the time over which they are over .500 all the way back to 1949, a 63-year period. They have to go 13-9 the rest of the way to accomplish that.
HUNTER PENCE
Pence arrived with a bit of a reputation as a free swinger, but he seems to have changed his approach since coming to Philadelphia. It's only been a little over a month, but the results are encouraging nonetheless:
- 1st Pitch Swinging: 34%, compared to a career average of 36%, a career low of 33% in 2009, and 37% this year with Houston -- still higher than any Phils position player other than Mini-Mart (37%)
- Pitches per PA: 4.16, compared to a career average of 3.75, a career high of 3.90 in 2009, and 3.77 this year with Houston -- tied with Howard for highest on the team since the trade
- BB%: 11.0%, well above his career average (7.0%), his career high (9.0% in 2009), and his rate with Houston this year (6.9%) -- third on the team behind Howard and Rollins since the trade
ATTENDANCE
After a slow start due to an unusually high number of rainouts, MLB attendance has caught up to and slightly surpassed 2010's average per game. This is in spite of the black hole in LA, where attendance is down by more than 8,000 per game from last year.
Two articles of interest from The Biz of Baseball:
- The Race to 3 Million Fans in Major League Baseball
- Red Sox See 700th Consecutive Sellout at Fenway Park
If Mother Nature sees fit for the Phillies to play all 81 home games, and they continue selling out through the end of the regular season, they will finish 2011 with 204 straight sellouts, one more than Colorado had in 1995-97.
GAME SCORES AND THE CY
phlsandthrills has a nice writeup on the Cy Young race. Here is another view, using Game Scores:
- Lee has the most 70+ games, Kennedy the fewest
- Kershaw is the only one with 2 games of 90+
- Hamels has the fewest games below 50
(as with all images, click to enlarge)
