Five Most Glaring Statistics From The 2010 Phillies Season

It seems that everyone has an opinion on the struggles of the 2010 Phillies.  And while the most popular (and certainly not misguided) theories focus on the Cliff Lee trade, rampant injuries, and underachieving, there are five glaring statistical contributors that would have the Phillies missing the playoffs if the season ended today.

1.  The combined ERA of Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels is 2.78, while he combined ERA of Jamie Moyer, Joe Blanton, and Kyle Kendrick is 5.19.

How bad is the combined ERA of the Phillies three, four, and five starters?   Well, when compared to the 54 National League pitchers who have pitched enough innings to qualify for ERA rankings (the requirement is one inning pitched per team game played), a 5.19 ERA would rank 52nd.   Perhaps the Phillies will soon be adopting the motto of “Halladay and Hamels and pray for rain!”

2.  Phillies second basemen and shortstops are on pace for the following season totals (combined): .243 avg, 32 home runs, 152 RBI, and 170 runs scored.

This is a statistic that bears much more meaning when it is compared to the production of the middle infield in the 2009 Pennant-winning season.    A healthy and productive combination of Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley combined for the following numbers last season:  .265 average, 52 home runs, 170 RBI, and 212 runs scored.   Poor health and poor hitting from the middle infield could be one of the biggest factors in the Phillies offensive struggles this season.

3.  At their current pace, the Phillies will be shut out 13 times this season.

The team that has led the National League in scoring for three of the last four seasons has been held to three or fewer runs a puzzling 47 times this season.   It’s hard to imagine Roy Halladay or Cole Hamels holding a team scoreless into the ninth inning and still staring down a no-decision, and yet it has happened multiple times this season. 

4.  The Phillies are 6 games under .500 on the road.

When listing all of the reasons for the Phillies struggles this season, perhaps the biggest contributor is the difference in their road record between this season and the past two seasons.  In 2009, the Phillies finished the season 15 games over .500 on the road, and in 2008 they were 7 games over .500.   Phillies opponents could never breathe easily until the 27th out was recorded, as the team’s mental toughness was the best in baseball. 

The 2010 Phillies are doing just fine at Citizen’s Bank Park (11 games over .500), and if they were merely playing .500 baseball on the road, they would trail the Braves by only 1.5 games for the division lead and the Giants by .5 games for the Wild Card lead.  

5.  The Phillies bullpen currently ranks 9th in the National League.

One of the most underappreciated components of the 2008 World Series Champion Phillies was the dependability of the top-ranked bullpen in the National League.  This season’s bullpen performance has deteriorated over the past two months, as Danys Baez, Jose Contreras, and David Herndon have struggled to keep the Phillies in games.   While it is not an exciting trade-deadline target, the bullpen could be the most crucial element for the Phillies to address if they are expecting to make a postseason run yet again.

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