The Worst .300 Hitter Ever

"Wes Helms isn't that bad. He is hitting .300"

If anyone says this to you, either headbutt them or just walk away. Because they have no idea what they are talking about.

Yes, Wes Helms is hitting .301 right now. He has 22 hits, 18 of which are singles. That equates out to a stellar .356 SLG. But if he's hitting .301, he must have a great OBP, right? Oh of course not. He has only walked 5 times this year, a walk rate of 1 walk per 15.2 plate appearances (his career rate is 1 per 13.1 plate appearnces), which is an OBP of .338. Add all that up and you have an OPS of .694, good for 10th among 3rd basemen in the NL. For a comparison, David Bell had an OPS of .743 last year with the Phillies.

Only David Bell could field. Helms is an absolute butcher at third, currently sporting the second worst fielding percentage for a third baseman in the majors.

But he was the only third baseman available right? Of course not. Though Akinori Iwamura just went on the DL, he is currently hitting .339 with an OPS of .961. Wouldn't be a bad replacement for Helms, eh?

Maybe Helms will start getting some extra base hits. Maybe he will figure out how to play an adequate third base. But right now he stinks, both on offense and defense.

Is Today The Day Cole Hamels Strikes Out 27 Batters?

Top of Sixth: I'm bad luck. I'm done with this for today.

Bottom of Fifth: Here is just a ridiculous set of stats. Below are the OPS for Brian Schneider from 2004-2006 against the teams in the NL East.

Mets: .646 OPS
Braves: .592 OPS
Marlins: .596 OPS
Phils: .891 OPS

250 to 300 points higher against the Phillies? How is that even possible?

Phils offense is putrid right now. They need some baserunners.

Top of Fourth: Dmitri Young closed his eyes and hit a home run to RF. Hamels with two more strikeouts. Bleh.

Top of Third: Hamels strikes the leadoff hitter out for the third straight time. He threw maybe six pitches that inning. It is ridiculous how good he is.

Top of Second: I remember a time earlier this season when Jimmy Rollins would actually take pitches. Apparently they feel as those their best chance to get on base is to swing at anything. It probably won't take too long for other teams to figure this out as well.

Kearns breaks up the perfect game with a weak single up the middle. Hamels got another K and got the other two outs easily. This game is sailing along.

Top of First: Who put Sarge Matthews in charge of the Keys to the Game? You could get more insight by asking the grass their opinion. Hamels with only one strikeout in the first inning, the other two outs came via foul outs. I really think the Phillies may want to re-think their strategy and let foul balls drop. Sure they would be giving away out, but I feel that opposing teams would be much more intimidated by Hamels if he were allowed to strike them all out.

Pre-Game: Three of the batters, excluding the pitcher, in Washington's lineup have an OBP under .282. That is impressive. What is not impressive is The White Stripes new single, which XM won't stop playing, that basically is a Black Sabbath cover. Only not.

Pre-Game: The Washington Nationals barely have a major league lineup. Cole Hamels is the greatest pitcher since, well ever. I'm expecting at the very least a no-hitter.

I'm going to live blog the game, as long as it is over by the time I want to leave work. This will be an interesting experiment.

Cracker Jack McCaffery Says Hello

His column today was a whole lot of nothing titled, "Birds moving closer to next quarterback". It is his typical garbage, filled with his own speculation and innuendo, but devoid of any real insight or actual facts that may support his opinions.

He was right at 24, and at 27 and at 29, and he could be right at 31, 32 and 33. But the Eagles have to prepare for that day when he is not - and for when patience will be the worst remedy, not the best.

Peyton Manning is 31. Tom Brady will be 30 this upcoming season. Do writers speculate the future at QB for the Colts and Pats? This is just typical gloom and doom from the Delaware County Times resident hack.

Mmmmm, He Would Look Wonderful In Red

A-Rod has 14 home runs this year.

The Phillies, as a team, have 16. Which you may say, is the league average, but it should also be noted that the league average is also really weighed down by the Rockies amazing ability to keep the ball in the park when they are taking their turns at bat.

Also, this really has nothing to do with Kevin Kennedy other than the fact that when I googled Alex Rodriguez on the Phillies, his dopey mug appeared. And it reminded me how much I hate Kevin Kennedy. If it is anything like his unlistenable radio show, it is probably filled with nuggets like, "If you ask players around the league, they'll tell you: Darin Erstad is a player" and, "When it gets down to the end of the game, I want a guy up there that gives my team a chance to win". I don't think we should ever burn or ban books, but if have to compromise with those that believe our children should not be reading some material, I suggest with start with Kevin Kennedy's book.

Apparently The On Button Was Disguised As The Panic Button

The lights have been turned back on here.

And speaking of turning it on, all it took for the Phillies to win two games in a row was to take their staff ace (which does not equate to the best pitcher on their staff) and bury him in a setup role, effectively making him an overpaid Scott Shields, then completely revamp the lineup for one game, as well as have the senior citizen manager threaten physical harm to the city's most popular radio host. I really don't want to see what it will take for them to win five in a row.

It's been re-hashed on numerous blogs already, but it can't be understated how ridiculous of a move it was to move Myers from the staff to a setup guy in the middle of the season. Will it work? From the angle of solidifying the bullpen, it probably will because Myers is a really good pitcher and will be able to adapt in whatever role the Phillies give him. But instead of seeing Myers, a pitcher who looked to be on the brink of super stardom, every fifth day throw one hundred pitches, Phillies fans will be reminded not to make that last trip to the hot dog stand as Jon Lieber waddles out to the mound. There is a reason that no other team in baseball has had the bright idea to move their ace into a setup role. Because it is a waste of resources, especially in today's pitching thin market where Gil Meche can get 55 million dollars.

But at least we get to watch Cole Hamels pitch. There are a lot of great young pitchers out there right now, but it is time Hamels gets mentioned with the best of them. 33 strikeouts and 6 walks. That is just insane. If he keeps it up, it is quite possible that Manuel will give him a promotion to long relief. Keep it up, kid.