Items after the jump:
- Phillies 2012 batting vs. player projections
- Phillies stats vs. early 2011 and vs. the Braves
- NL Standings and team stats
- Upcoming milestones
Phillies Batters vs. Projections
Chooch has joined the small group who are over their projections, but the weighted average (based on 2012 PAs) is still skewed lower and indicates that overall there is still substantial improvement that can be made even before Utley and Howard return.
Phillies Team Stats vs. early 2011, and vs. the Braves
Hitting
- The Phils have averaged 4.7 runs per game in their last 7. It's a start.
- I've added two Plate Discipline stats from BB-Ref: 1) reaching hitter's counts (2-0, 3-0, and 3-1), and taking a pitch at those counts. Both are lower than last year, although the 2011 stats are full-year, and at least the number of times reaching these counts were likely lower in the first 46 games when the offense struggled.
- Base stealing has slowed to the point that attempts per game are now lower than last year. However steals are still slightly ahead as the Phillies continue to lead in SB%. In fact, as yolacrary noted in the Links thread today, everyone not named Pierre is perfect so far (13 for 13). Juan Pierre is 3 out of 5.
Pitching
- ERA is now essentially the same as last year, although more unearned runs have been allowed.
Atlanta Braves
- The Braves are 1/2 game behind first-place Washington, with a 14-9 record, primarily on the strength of the 3rd best run scoring in the league, at 5.04 per game.
- Atlanta has been seeing many more pitches (3.84/PA, 4th in the NL), but their walk rate (8.7%) is in the middle of the pack, although significantly better than the Phils'.
- Their ERA and Runs Allowed are both 10th, although their WHIP is 14th.
- Tuesday's lineups (our 2008 WS friend Hinske replaces Heyward, who is out with a sore oblique. The Braves have been balanced so far, with Bourn and Heyward (.273/.341/.442, 133 wRC+) hitting the best, about equal to Ruiz and Wigginton...
NL Standings and Team Stats
Below are the NL standings, with additional key stats. The idea is not to study every number on this busy table, but you can get a quick sense of which team is doing well in each area by quickly scanning the colors (e.g. the Nats' offense has been as "good" as the Phillies' (red and orange), but they have the best staff in the league so far (green).
- Also, as good as the Cardinals have been (14-8), their pythagorean formula, thanks to scoring the most and allowing about the fewest, says they should have won even more, and be 17-5.
- The Mets, on the other hand, have won 3.5 games more than their pythagorean.
Upcoming Milestones
Jim Thome
- his 2nd RBI will tie him with Gary Sheffield for 25th on the All-time list at 1,676
- he needs 3 more K's (13 for the season) to become the 2nd player in history to reach 2,500; Reggie Jackson has 2,597
- 3 more Games Played (15 for the season) will make him the 51st player in history to reach 2,500
Juan Pierre
- his next stolen base (4th of the year) will tie him with Brett Butler for 21st, at 558
Jonathan Papelbon
- with his 8th save last night, Papelbon tied Hoyt Wilhelm for 36th All-time at 227
- his 18th of the season will tie him with Ugueth Urbina for 35th