Why the Phillies will NOT go to the playoffs (again)
After seeing the box score of today’s game, I’m done. I’m convinced that the Phillies have no shot of going to the playoffs this year, and the reason is simple. It’s also the same reason it’s been for the last two years: relief pitching.
Below is a chart of the Phillies relievers for their last 5 and 10 appearances. Notice anything? How about only 3 of the 7 having respectable ERAs in their last 5, and NO ONE being under 5.68 over their last ten. How can any team expect to win with numbers like that?
Hell, the team has a combined 9.76 / 9.19 ERA for those same periods (okay, it’s hard to count since they weren’t the same games, but still…). That’s just ridiculous. It’s like saying, “Gee, we have to survive 3 more innings using a reliever – are we up by more than 3 runs, just in case?”
Well, the Flyers start in a month, right?
| Pitcher | ER5 | IP5 | ERA5 | ER10 | IP10 | ERA10 |
| Myers | 5 | 6.1 | 7.38 | 7 | 11.1 | 5.68 |
| Gordon | 5 | 4.1 | 10.98 | 11 | 7.2 | 13.75 |
| Alfonseca | 7 | 2.1 | 30.00 | 9 | 2.7 | 30.00 |
| Mesa | 11 | 3.3 | 30.00 | 13 | 7.4 | 15.81 |
| Rosario | 7 | 4.4 | 14.32 | 8 | 11.4 | 6.32 |
| Romero | 1 | 2.4 | 3.75 | 3 | 3.8 | 7.11 |
| Castro | 2 | 7.2 | 2.50 | 6 | 9.2 | 5.87 |
| Geary | 2 | 7.3 | 2.47 | 10 | 12.8 | 7.03 |
| TOTALS | 40 | 36.9 | 9.76 | 67 | 65.6 | 9.19 |
On another note
I posted this using the new-ish Adobe Contribute. I made the table in Excel (TONS quicker than HTML), and then simply did an ‘export to blog’. It worked pretty well once I configured it. I might have to consider it for other things in the near future…
That was the worst loss I can remember. Even if you take out the playoff implications, that was pathetic. Roberson should eBay his glove.
And Gordon should eBay his arm. Or maybe it’s more of a Half.com purchase?