Cole Hamels Desperately Needs Run Support
by Bill Baer on Friday, August 13th, 2010Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | 14 Comments »
Another excellent Cole Hamels start, another loss. Hamels has been among the best starters in baseball this season, especially since the beginning of May, but his offense couldn't hit water if they jumped off the Titanic so long as ...
Broxton Cocktail
by Bill Baer on Friday, August 13th, 2010Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | 16 Comments »
Jonathan Broxton is an elite closer, averaging 12 strikeouts per nine innings with a 2.92 ERA. Asking him to get three outs in a game his team has a 95% chance of winning is a no-brainer. And the overwhelming ...
Manuel, Romero Make Romero Look Bad
by Bill Baer on Thursday, August 12th, 2010Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | 10 Comments »
J.C. Romero has walked a lot of hitters since he became a regular reliever in 2000 with the Minnesota Twins. 351 of them to be exact. Some of those walks were meaningless, while others decided the fate of his ...
The Dog Days of August
by Bill Baer on Tuesday, August 10th, 2010Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | 24 Comments »
If you've stopped by ESPN.com recently, you may have seen their "The Dog Days of August" feature, including the two blurbs I contributed on Raul Ibanez and Jimmy Rollins. More importantly, though, SportsNation has some poll questions and ...
The Transformation of Cole Hamels
by Bill Baer on Monday, August 9th, 2010Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | 14 Comments »
Cole Hamels' last start, in which he allowed one run and struck out 11 Mets in seven innings, signaled his return into the good graces of fans in Philadelphia. Cole was the whipping boy after a disastrous start to ...
Phillies kwERA
by Bill Baer on Thursday, August 5th, 2010Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | 27 Comments »
Mike Fast put up a great article at The Hardball Times, highlighting the leaders in kwERA. What is kwERA? Fast explains: A few years ago, Guy M and Tom Tango came up with a neat toy called kwERA that works a ...
Mike Sweeney to Fill the Howard Void
by Bill Baer on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | 12 Comments »
Todd Zolecki, via Twitter: Phillies acquire first baseman Mike Sweeney from the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Since Ryan Howard was placed on the disabled list, Sweeney's role is to help the Phillies ...
Graph of the Intermittent Time Period
by Bill Baer on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies | 7 Comments »
More bad news, via Matt Gelb on Twitter: [Ryan] Howard to the DL. Although Howard himself and Charlie Manuel spoke optimistically about his left ankle injury, this was viewed an inevitability by just about everyone else. The black cloud continues to hang ...
Lidge Tipping His Pitches?
by Bill Baer on Sunday, August 1st, 2010Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies | 69 Comments »
Recap: Moments before Ryan Zimmerman sent Brad Lidge's fastball over the centerfield fence in the ninth inning, the third baseman sent Adam Dunn a message. Zimmerman fouled off a slider, looked at Dunn in the on-deck circle ...
Phillies Acquire Roy Oswalt
by Bill Baer on Thursday, July 29th, 2010Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | 23 Comments »
The Phillies finally have acquired Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros, a much-ballyhooed rumor now blossomed into a reality. Let's start with analysis of the tenured right-hander himself. Oswalt, generously listed at 6'0" on his Baseball Reference page, has finished ...
