Phillies Stat Notes: Puig and Kernshaw Come to Town

 

Contents

• NL Standings and team stats
• Phillies Team Stats vs. 2013 and vs. the Dodgers
• Individual Stats
• Today in Phillies History
• Upcoming Milestones

NL Standings and Team Stats

The Phillies remain tied for 4th with the Mets, while LA is 2 games over .500 and 4.5 games behind the Giants.

The Dodgers have tended to feature very good pitching, and at best enough decent hitting to get by, partly due to their pitching-friendly home park. That's not the case this year, when they've been one of the best hitting teams in the league, while their pitching overall has been around the middle of the pack.

By the way, the Pirates are the only NL team to get negative fWAR from their pitching overall so far this year, at -0.3 The Phillies are 8th with 2.7 fWAR.

Phillies Team Stats vs. 2013 and vs. the Dodgers

Hitting

How odd: the Phillies start the season by leading the league in walks for the first 2 weeks, then drop all the way to last for the next 2 weeks, and then lead the league again over the last 3 weeks:

first 13 games: 10.3% - 1st in the NL
next 13 games: 4.8% - 15th in the NL
last 18 games: 9.5% - 1st in the NL

Including that substantial improvement in walks, as well as stolen bases, the Phils are better than last year in almost every aspect of the offense. The only major exception is power, which has been the same as last year, with 11% fewer home runs, but 19% more doubles and triples.

The Dodgers are near the top of the NL in every major hitting category (along with Colorado and Miami). In addition, they lead the league in stolen bases, as well as steal attempts.

Yasiel Puig has the 5th highest fWAR in the NL MLB, despite negative ratings in both baserunning and defense. With a .331/.423/.607 line (190 wRC+), the 23 year old outfielder is improving on his rookie season and has been one of the elite hitters in the game so far.

Regardless, the Phillies should sweep the series, since Juan Uribe is on the DL.

 

   

Phillies hitters at Fangraphs
Dodgers hitters at Fangraphs

 

Pitching and Defense

The Phils are 14th (2nd worst) in issuing walks, and somewhat surprisingly, their starters rank even lower (13th, at 2.91 BB/9) than their relievers (11th, at 4.21).

For LA, Clayton Kershaw's ERA looks pedestrian at 4.43, but his FIP (1.54) and xFIP (1.90) are even better than ever -- he's been hampered by a way unsustainable .419 BABIP against. Kershaw is coming off one of the worst starts of his career, when he gave 6 hits and 7 ER in 1 2/3 innings at Arizona on Saturday.

Phillies pitchers at Fangraphs
Dodgers pitchers at Fangraphs

 

Individual Stats

Hitters

The Phillies have had some of May's best hitters in the NL so far (by wRC+):

7) Jimmy Rollins 181 (.317/.461/.550)
9) Marlon Byrd 174 (.329/.382/.614)
14) Cody Asche 164 (.317/.406/.550)

Rollins is also 5th in the NL in fWAR for the month, with 1.3.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Phillies also have the NL player with the worst fWAR in the month, Dom Brown at -0.5. And the 9th worst, Ryan Howard (-0.3). That's among the 90 qualifying hitters; Lyle Overbay is at -0.7 but with too few PAs.

Brown has also been May's 3rd worst NL hitter among the 90 qualifiers, with a wRC+ of 28 (.152/.188/.318).

Today In Phillies History

1991: Tommy Greene pitched a no-hitter to beat the Expos 2-0. It was only his 15th major league start. The Expos lineup featured Delino DeShields, Larry Walker, Andres Galarraga, and Marquis Grissom.

2009: John Mayberry Jr. debuts with the Phillies

Also: Happy Birthday Cesar Hernandez (24)

May 22nd 

1952: Pitcher Curt Simmons hits an inside-the-park home run against the Pirates, the last time a Phillies pitcher accomplished that feat.

May 24th

1935: In the first night game in major league history, the Phillies lose to the Reds 2-1 at Crosley Field

2000: Pat Burrell's major league debut

2009: Mariano Rivera throws a scoreless 19th inning against the Phillies at Yankee Stadium. It's his last [regular season] appearance against the Phillies; as he's the last player allowed to wear number 42, from this point on, no individual player wearing number 42 will play in a Phillies game.

Source: Broad and Pattison

Milestones

Recent milestones and those that may be reached over the next week or so...

Jimmy Rollins -- Phillies Hits Record

Rollins passed Richie Ashburn yesterday for sole possession of second place on the Phillies' all-time hits list.

Mike Schmidt is now 16 hits away. At his season's rate of just over one hit per game, Rollins is projected to reach him around June 7th while in Cincinnati. If that turns out to be about right and he's close towards the end of that series, he will undoubtedly be rested to make sure he passes Schmidt at home. 

Jimmy Rollins -- Other

• His next time caught stealing will tie him with Schmidt for 2nd most on the Phillies list at 92. Larry Bowa holds the team record with 94. Caught stealing stats have been kept since 1951.
• Three more strikeouts (33 on the year) will tie Bobby Abreu for 5th most in team history at 1078.
• With six more games (i.e. sometime on this homestand), Rollins will appear in the 2,000th of his career, and will join Schmidt as the only Phillies with 2,000 for the franchise.

Chase Utley

• His next Sacrifice Fly (3rd of the year) ties Bobby Abreu for 2nd all-time for the Phillies at 54, leaving him behind only Mike Schmidt (108). Sac Flies were tracked at various times before, but have only been recorded continuously since 1954.
• He needs 7 more total bases (96 for the year) to tie Cy Williams for 7th most in Phils history, at 2539.
• Four more extra base hits (28 total) will tie Bobby Abrue for 6th most, with 585.

Ryan Howard

• Yesterday Howard walked for the 608th time in his career, passing Darren Daulton for 10th most in Phils history.

Carlos Ruiz

We haven't mentioned Chooch on these milestone reports, but he has quietly moved into the Phillies' all-time top ten in a couple of caregories:

• He was already 9th in intentional walks coming into this season with 59 (thanks in large part to hitting 8th for much of his career -- 39 of his IBBs came while in the 8 spot)
• With 4 HBPs this year he has moved ahead of Cy Williams for 10th in that stat as well, with 57.

Cole Hamels

• His next win (2nd this year) will tie Curt Schilling for 6th most in Phils history with 101, leaving him behind only Carlton (241), Roberts (234), Alexander (190), Short (132), and Simmons (115).
• Hamels is also about to pass Schilling in strikeouts -- 5 more (45 for the year) will tie him for 4th most K's in Phillies history at 1554, behind only Carlton (3031), Roberts (1871), and Short (1585).

A.J. Burnett

• Burnett's win on Tuesday was the 150th of his career, making him the 5th active pitcher with 150+. Cliff Lee is tied for 6th among active pitchers, with 143.

Jonathan Papelbon

• Papelbon is sitting at 298 career saves, and 2 more will make him 26th pitcher in history with 300+. That will also tie him with Bruce Sutter and Jason Isringhausen for 24th most all-time. He would become the 6th pitcher in history with 300 saves by his age 33 season.

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For reference:

- Phillies All-time hitting leaders
- Phillies All-time pitching leaders