Stephen A At It Again

Is the Philadelphia Inquirer allowing Stephen A Smith to audition for Baseball Tonight by allowing him to write baseball columns? I have no other idea how to explain his sudden interest in the Phillies. But it does make for some good laughs.

We hear the Phillies look better, feel better, are better, and will remain better than they were last season. But, as usual, we're still waiting to see the evidence: enough wins and a position atop the National League East.

The Phillies have played 120 games. After 120 games last year, their record was 59-61. This year it is 64-56. I only minored in Math, but to me, that seems like a five game improvement. And I didn't even have to use a calculator to determine the difference either.

But it's not too soon to point out that, even while the Phillies entered last night 19-12 since the all-star break and hot enough to be one of the better teams in the majors, all the heat and euphoria they have generated still have them looking ahead at the New York Mets and mired in yet another dogfight over a postseason berth.

You could replace Phillies/Mets with Yankees/Red Sox, Cubs/Brewers, or Indians/Tigers. There are still 40 games left to play this season. I have no idea why Stephen A is so insistent on making dire predictions with 6 weeks left to go. Probably because he doesn't know what he is talking about.

Both teams are winning, but not as much as they should.

How much "should" they be winning? The Mets have the second best record in the NL. The Phillies have the fourth best record. Atlanta has the fifth best record in the league. This seems about right. But they should be winning more. Should.

As of last weekend, nobody but the Yankees was better than the Phillies offensively.

Who in their right mind would compare an American League Team to a National League Team? The Yankees' 9 hole hitter has a .818 OPS. The Phillies' 9 hole hitter has a .498 OPS. Surprisingly, having a designated hitter will allow a team to improve their offense. That statement should have read, No team in the National League is better than the Phillies offensively (unless you ask Joe Morgan).

The Mets have been reduced to relying on the heroics of Moises Alou (.583 batting average and nine RBIs in three games)

Welcome to the world of limited sample size. I am still in a bit of shock that he would actually use Moises Alou's last three games to justify the word heroics. All he had to do was point to Alou's stats for the month of August, which have been very good. Instead he used the last three days.

Stephen A: We sure have had some great weather in the month of August.

Me: It rained for the first ten days.

Stephen A: Yeah but it has been sunny since Tuesday.

Me: I hate you.