Phillies Stat Notes: NL East is Underrated; Rollins 9 hits from Schmidt

The Phillies' already low playoff chances took a severe hit in losing 4 of 5 to the Mets.

Contents

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

NL Standings and Team Stats

The East is arguably the best division in the National League. No, the division doesn't have a dominant team, but their combined record rivals that of the West, and is much better than the Central.

In addition, the East's pythagorean projection, based on its run differential, is narrowly the best of the three divisions:

Phillies Team Stats vs. 2013 and vs. the Nationals

Hitting

Phillies
For the first time this year, the Phillies are last in the NL in fWAR by position players, falling below the Padres and the Cubs thanks to a -0.6 WAR in the 5-game Mets series.

Home runs are finally coming: after ranking 14th in the NL in home runs per game over their first 39 games, the Phillies lead the NL in the 16 games since May 17th.

Their BB% is now up to 4th in the NL for the season to date.

Nationals
Washington has done slightly better than the Phillies at the plate, generally ranking slightly above average, whereas the Phils have been slightly below.

The Nats though have scored more than 3 runs even less often than the Phils (45% of the time), ranking 12th in the NL.

Their offense has been led by Adam LaRoche, hitting .321/.416/.518 (.934 OPS).

Phillies fans' "should of kept" favorite Kevin Frandsen is hitting .236/.299/.315 (.614 OPS), with -0.4 fWAR.

The Nationals have 2 fewer wins than their run differential and pythagorean projection indicate they should have.

Phillies hitters at Fangraphs
Nationals hitters at Fangraphs

Pitching and Defense

Phillies
The woeful Diamondbacks (4.95 per game) are the only thing keeping the Phils from allowing the most runs in the NL.

The bullpen ranks 14th in ERA, and that's their highlight, ranking 15th in both FIP and xFIP.

Nationals
The Nationals' defense is below average, but it's pitching where they win games, ranking near the top in both ERA and FIP.

The Phils will be facing:

Today: Jordan Zimmermann, 4.07 ERA, 3.29 FIP, 3.39 xFIP, and 1.0 WAR
Wed: Stephen Strasburg, 3.15 ERA, 2.45 FIP, 2.60 xFIP, and 2.0 WAR
Thu: Doug Fister, 3.34 ERA, 4.01 FIP, 3.35 xFIP and 0.2 WAR in only 5 starts

Phillies pitchers at Fangraphs
Nationals pitchers at Fangraphs

Individual Stats

Hitters

Chooch is the only Phillies regular doing much in recent weeks. Howard's occasional home run has been nice, but overall he hasn't been doing much either, with OPS's in the .600s over the last 30, 14, and 7 days:

OPS Progression by Player

What to make of the spaghetti strands below?

• Utley has fallen below the .900 line for the first time since early May
• Byrd and Ruiz remain solid around .800 (as well as the hamstrung Asche)
• Rollins has been cold lately, but still having a very good year
• Revere still isn't doing great, but at least he's left Dom Brown territory
• The bench has been really bad

Today In Phillies History

1930: Pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander is released after failing to pick up a win in 3 starts. His 373 wins tied him with Christy Matthewson for most wins in NL history.

1957: Richie Ashburn goes 5-for-5 with two doubles in a 9-3 win over St. Louis. It's the only 5-hit game of his career.

1972: GM John Quinn's retirement is announced during the 9th inning of a Phillies-reds game. Paul Owens, the team's farm director, was named to take his place.

Yesterday (June 2)

1949: The Phils hit 5 homers in one inning (the eighth) against the Reds. Catcher Andy Seminick hit two of them, as well as one earlier in the game. Del Ennis, Schoolboy Rowe, and Willie Jones hit the others. The 5 home runs tied a major-league record for a single inning, and the 26 total bases recorded in the inning set a modern record.

1989: Traded Chris James to San Diego for Randy Ready and John Kruk

2002: Robert Person hits two home runs and earned the win in an 18-3 victory over Montreal

2009: On his 37th birthday, Raul Ibanez hits 2 home runs and drives in 5. The first dinger was the 200th in Ibanez' career, pacing a 10-5 Phillies win over San Diego

(Rauuuuuuul -- happy 42nd birthday)

And Antonio Bastardo made his major league debut on June 2, 2009.

Tomorrow (June 4)

1897: Leading 4-0 in the 4th, the visiting Pittsburgh players began throwing the ball around the field to delay the game and force a rain out. The visitors were upset over an earlier call on a foul ball and the resulting ejection of the their team captain. The umpire called the game, but awarded the Phillies the win.

1951: Pirate Gus Bell hits for the cycle off of Milo Candini in a 12-4 win over the Phillies at Shibe Park. His grandson, David, will hit one for the Phillies in 2004.

1953: Curt Simmons cuts off part of his left big toe while mowing his lawn. He doesn't pitch again for a month, but wins 16 games in the season

1958: The Phillies issue three intentional walks to Chicago center fielder Bobby Thomson in a 11-5 loss.

1964: Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers threw his 3rd career no-hitter, striking out 12 Phillies in a 3-0 victory at Connie Mack Stadium. He walked Dick Allen in the 4th inning, but Allen was caught stealing so Koufax faced the minimum 27 batters.

2013: John Mayberry Jr. became the first Phillie to collect two extra-inning home runs in the same game. He tied the game with a 10th inning solo shot, then won it with a walk-off grand slam in the 11th for a 7-3 win over Miami.

Source: Broad and Pattison

Milestones

Recent milestones and those that may be reached over the next week or so.
(For reference, see the Phillies' all-time top ten lists published yesterday, here.)

Jimmy Rollins -- Phillies Hits Record

Rollins is now 9 hits away from tying Mike Schmidt's franchise hits record, and he should reach it next week, during the upcoming homestand. There is not a lot of slack in the schedule for him to pass Schmidt at home.

Jimmy Rollins -- Other

• During the Mets series, Rollins passed Bobby Abreu for 5th most strikeouts in team history, and is now at 1081.
• The next time he is caught stealing (his 3rd this year), he will tie 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.

Chase Utley

• His next Sacrifice Fly (3rd of the year) will tie 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.

Ryan Howard

• Howard reached 1,000 career RBIs with the 3-run home run that put the Phillies back in the game on Saturday, becoming the fastest active player to reach that milestone (in games). He also became the 12th fastest in MLB history to reach 1,000.
• When he hit his 320th home run on Wednesday, he became the 7th fastest in history to reach that total.
• Howard needs 7 more total bases (96 on the year) to get into the top 10 in Phillies history, by tying Sherry Magee at 2463.

Cole Hamels

• On Sunday Hamels passed Curt Schilling for 4th most K's in Phillies history, and now has 1561, behind only Carlton (3031), Roberts (1871), and Short (1585). By the end of the month Hamels could have the 3rd most strikeouts in team history.
• His next win (2nd this year) will tie Schillling for 6th most in Phils history with 101, leaving him behind only Carlton (241), Roberts (234), Alexander (190), Short (132), and Simmons (115).
• With 11 more innings (62 2/3 total), he will also tie Schilling for 8th most innings pitched.

Jonathan Papelbon

• Papelbon's next save (14th) will be the 300th of his career, and will tie 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