2011 MLB season in review: Philadelphia Phillies
The 2011 Philadelphia Phillies went 102-60 and won the National League east. They fell a little short to eventual World Series champion the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. They may have a few issues, but the numbers should tell us were they need a little tweaking.
They did go 43-29 against their four divisional rivals. However, an 8-10 record against the third place Washington Nationals is never a good thing. They were also 9-6 in inter-league play. They won 52 games at home and 50 on the road. However, they did slump a bit at the end of the season and the might explain why they could not make that strong pos season run. In September, they went just 16-14 and their second half record was 45-26, so this is a team that likely peaked at the wrong time.
They did score 713 runs, but that was just 7th best in the NL. They had 1,409 hits, the team batting average was .253, and that was just ninth best. Only one of their regular nine hit above .300 and for a lineup that looked as stacked as this one did it seems they should have hit a little better. They had the second least strikeouts, and the fifth most walks. With 153 dingers, they ranked eighth in their league. They also had the fifth fewest doubles, and only ranked tenth in stolen bases. Age may be an issue here, and this team has played a lot of baseball over the past few years.
The Pitching staff only gave up 529 runs on 1,320 hits. The staff ERA was 3.02 and that was the best staff mark in the NL. Four of their starting five had double digit victories, but Roy Oswalt was a disappointing 9-10. He also had the highest ERA of the starters. Ryan Madson did rack up 32 saves, and the bullpen looks ok, but could use some tweaks. Jonathan Pabblebon has been signed to be the closer for the foreseeable future. The 2011 staff was third in strikeouts and gave up the fewest free passes.
Since the Phillies spent 165 million on payroll last year, and have already dolled out 50 more the Pabblebon, one has to think hat Cole Hamels or some other high priced guy will not be coming back. The Phillies have done things the right way, they have spent money to build a contender for their fan base, but they cannot continue to spend like this. Of course, maybe they can and they will be the third team in the east trying to outspend everyone else. They do not have a lot of free agency concerns, so maybe they do lay out some more big money to keep Hamels.
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