Philadelphia Phillies will not repeat as World Series champions, 76ers are now next best hope

Logan on 05 28, 2009

Your favorite National League team will not reach the 2009 World Series unless: You’re a Los Angeles Dodgers fan.

Contender #2: Philadelphia Phillies (24-19)

The defending World Series Champions find themselves at 25-20 as of May 27th and a half game ahead of the New York Mets in the National League East. The Phillies have had a mixed bag of results from their top stars to this point in the 2009 regular season. However, Philadelphia has received unusual contributions from players such as Raul Ibanez and Clay Condrey to help offset the struggles from those normally productive players. A lot of the disappointments are geared towards that pitching staff which was so immensely instrumental in their 2008 World Series championship.

Offensively the Phillies are right on track to again be amongst the top of the N.L. As you may expect with a guy like Ryan Howard in the lineup, Philadelphia ranks near the top of the league in statistics such as runs scored, slugging percentage, and OPS, but is only hitting .260 collectively as a team (7th in the National League). The biggest story of the season from an offensive standpoint is Raul Ibanez, who has come out of nowhere to become one of the more feared power hitters in baseball. Did someone say steroids? Just kidding…but seriously, someone may need to test this guy. Ibanez is a career .289 hitter who just happens to be flirting with .350 at the moment. He normally comes in at about 20 HR a season; this year he is sitting on 17 through 43 games. Yes, that means he’s on pace for around 64 long balls in 2009. He’s either been taking hitting tips from Pujols, or prescription advice from A-Rod and Manny. Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins seem to have lost a little drive after quenching their championship thirst as both are hitting under .270 this season (.262 and .234 respectively).

The most apparent flaw when looking at this team is pitching, simply stated. The only team with a worse ERA than Philadelphia’s 5.19 is the lowly Nationals with 5.60. The starting five of Jamie Moyer, Cole Hamels, Brett Meyers, Joe Blanton, and Chan Ho Park have an average ERA of 6.13 between them. None of those five have an earned run average better than 4.34, and only Brett Meyers has a record above .500. Surprisingly, starting pitching hasn’t even been the worst part of this team’s pitching woes. With only a 63% conversion rate on save opportunities (10 out of a possible 16), no lead is safe for this club. This is unacceptable with Brad Lidge as your closer. Lidge has been worse than terrible this season. With only 8 saves out of 12, Lidge has hurt this team more than he’s helped. His 9.15 earned run average this season is 5.81 above his career average. I think it may be time to look elsewhere when the game is on the line for this club. Much like the David Ortiz situation in Boston, there comes a point where you need to look past a particular player’s name and focus on their productivity. In a day and age in sports where the phrase “what have you done for me lately?” is so commonly used, you have to wonder why managers are so afraid to put these guys where they belong; on the bench.

Overall, this team seems to just lack the hunger for a title that they rode last October. They will continue to hit, mainly for power, but if the pitching doesn’t pick up quickly this team will be going nowhere fast.

The Phillies are in too tough of a division to continue to blow late leads,. Haven’t they learned anything from the Mets the past few years???

COMING SOON: Part III (St. Louis Cardinals)