This is an Offense

To follow up on last week, the Phillies are now averaging an astounding 5.50 runs per game. The Marlins, who are still second in runs per game, are avergaing 4.89 runs per game. For the mathematically inclined, the Phillies are leading every team in the NL by over 0.6 runs per game. That is quite a number.

And because they have been getting halfway decent pitching of late, they are winning more than they are losing.

These next four games are a big test as they face the Cubs who have the best rotation in the NL that isn't fronted by Jake Peavy. Fortunately they don't have to face Carlos Zambrano, but they can't avoid Rich Hill and Ted Lily. If there is any "flaw" with the current Phillies is that they occasionally struggle against left handers. They are hitting right handers with the same success, but it is much more impressive when compared to the rest of the league.

Injuries continue to take their toll. As soon as they got Howard back, Myers goes on the DL. Myers and Gordon come back and Utley breaks his hand and now Madson hurts his arm. Madson has been really good the last two months, especially in July. Hopefully they can weather the storm. If not, we can all just blame Pat Gillick. It is what I like to do.

It's The Pitching, Stupid

It really blows my mind that anyone in their right mind, or even their wrong mind, could put any blame for the Phillies’ mediocre record on the lineup. Without doing much research, anyone can observe the following:

• The Phillies rank 1^st in the NL in Runs Scored.

• The Phillies rank 2^nd in the NL in Batting Average.

• The Phillies rank 1^st in the NL in On Base Percentage.

• The Phillies rank 1^st in the NL in Slugging Percentage.

• The Phillies rank 1^st in the NL in OPS.

But the Phillies aren’t clutch. They can’t score with runners in scoring position.

• With runners in scoring position, the Phillies rank 4^th in the NL in Batting Average and On Base Percentage.

• With runners in scoring position, the Phillies rank 2^nd in the NL in Slugging Percentage.

The Phillies are averaging 5.42 runs per game. That is astounding. Here are the Phillies monthly runs per game averages:

• April: 4.92 runs per game

• May: 5.39 runs per game

• June: 5.11 runs per game

• July: 6.56 runs per game

This is a very, very good offense. The Marlins are averaging the second most runs scored per game at 4.91. More than half a run a game less than the Phillies. The only time in the last 30 years that a team has led the NL in runs per game by a margin of 0.5 runs per game was the Rockies in 1996 and 1997 (and obviously the conditions had something to do with that).

So why isn’t this the best team in the National League?

It definitely rhymes with itching.

They rank last in the NL in team ERA, Home Runs, and OPS against. Next to last in the NL in WHIP. Second to last in the NL in Starters' ERA, Relievers' ERA and BAA. They have lost 11 games when they score 5 or more runs. That is the difference between running away with the division and being a .500 team.

But hey, Pat Gillick is a genius. He’ll fix this team. Don’t worry about a thing.

Fire Pat Gillick. Wait, fire Pat Gillick?

Sam Donnellon writes today (here) that Pat Gillick is looking exceptionally scapegoaty and fireable since the Phillies are off to such an abominable start. Go ahead and read his article.

The first problem is he blames Pat Gillick for Freddy Garcia's arm troubles. How is that his fault? Garcia has thrown over 200 innings in all but one season, and that was 2000. There was no indication prior to signing him that his arm was about to fall off, which I believe it may have. Gillick went out and got a guy who looked like he would be a solid number 3 starter and innings eater, and then he got hurt. Shit happens. Also, Donnellon refers to Freddy as a "17-game winner." This is a good time to learn a little something- wins don't fucking matter as a pitching statistic. Garcia also had the highest ERA of his career last season, which means all those wins he "earned" were largely the result of having a productive offense in those games.

Okay, Gillick did mess up by not trading Lieber. Of course teams were probably not offering top prospects and hidden reserves of Nazi gold for his high-4's ERA and portly frame, so no big deal. Tom Gordon was fine and dandy last year; just because he started off slow this year doesn't mean he's washed up. They're fucking 7 games in. They're fucking 7 games in. Now I won't say that again, although you should keep that in mind. I lied. They're fucking 7 games in. Okay, done. And yes, they should have traded Aaron Rowand too, because he stinks. Of course he's stunk since day 1 on the Phillies, even with all his scrappiness. Because you know what's better than scrappiness in a baseball player? Hitting ability. But good luck trading him now that he obviously has 400/20 vision in the eye he messed up when he mistook the outfield wall for a fluffy cloud.

Donnellon mentions the trade the Braves made for Mike Gonzales, which was indeed a nice one. But what he fails to mention is this- the Braves have been a great organization for over a decade, so they have pieces to trade. The Phillies have been mismanaged for, let's see, wow, over 100 years, with the exception of the late 70's/early 80's. That's not all Gillick's fault. You know who Gillick probably would have had to give up for Gonzales? Chase Utley. Imagine the reaction from the press if he'd done that. They would have briefly taken their faces out of the free reporter food trough at the stadium and said "Mmna, mmnanna, stupid, mnn, trade, mnnana."

He then concludes with discussion of Charlie Manuel not being around for Game 161 (even though they play 162 games. Can someone explain why he wrote that?). But he doesn't mention Gillick himself getting canned; only his being responsible for Manuel's firing. But the title of the article is "Gillick earns spot on hot seat". So which the hell is it? Is Gillick on the hot seat with Manuel or not? And where exactly is this mythic hot seat? I hear about it all the time, yet most seats these days are cool to the posterior.

You know what the easiest, do-nothing job in Philly is other than mayor? Sportswriter. All you have to do is write angry diatribes against anyone involved with any aspect of any team and people will apparently eat it up. So watch out, Philadelphia Soul dance team- you've been looking lazy, and now you've been warned.