Can Anyone Stop the Surprising Houston Astros?
It’s been a strange season in baseball. The aging Yankees are actually pretty good. The Nationals are, for some reason, pretty mediocre. The Mets are good. The stacked Padres roster can’t get it done on the field. The Tigers are lousy. And, most unbelievably of all, the Houston Astros are finally good. Yes, those […]
Texas Rangers: The Cole Hamels Deal
The Texas Rangers certainly aren’t strangers to making splash deals for top of the line starting pitching. Back in the summer of 2010, Cliff Lee, among the best pitchers in the MLB at the time, was dealt to the Texas Rangers in exchange for a number of prospects. While Lee performed well for the Rangers […]
Biking for Baseball to the city of “Brotherly Love”
Biking for Baseball [www.bikingforbaseball.org] is a youth mentoring organization that cycled 11,000 miles to each MLB stadium this summer to raise funds and awareness for youth mentoring programs across the country. One of the riders, Chase Higgins @chaser_racer32, is a blogger who writes about baseball games they’ve been to and general MLB throughout the trip. […]
Upton in Smoke: Trading Justin Would Send The Diamondbacks Back to the Basement
We’re halfway through July, and that means one thing in Baseball Land: trade rumors. The July 31st trade deadline is quickly approaching, and with the new wild card additions to each league, there are more contenders than ever. As of July 15, 9 of MLB’s 30 teams are within 3.5 games of a wild card […]
Tigers Find Success before All-Star Break: Should They Go All-In?
The enigmatic first half the Detroit Tigers drudged through may have shed some light on the team heading into the second part of the season. Finishing with eight wins over their last 11 games, the Tigers finally reached .500 for the first time in two months. With the arrival of the All-Star break, the Tigers […]
Phillies Should Retool At Trading Deadline
The time has come for the Phillies to take a look in the mirror – a long, hard look using one of those 50X mirrors that shows every blackhead, wrinkle, ingrown hair, and imperfection you don’t want to see. The image staring back in the reflection may determine the success of the Phillies franchise in […]
Are the 2012 Phillies starting to resemble the 2009 Mets?
I know this is a crazy thought. And perhaps it is too early to make this assumption. A couple of things the 2012 Philadelphia Phillies have that the 2009 New York Mets did not was starting pitching. Going back to 2009, the Mets had a staff led by Johan Santana and a younger Mike Pelfrey. […]
SMALLS TALK: Cole Hamels does the unthinkable!
I still can’t believe it. Premeditated, unwarranted, just disgusting. For those of you who haven’t heard, Cole Hamels recently launched a harpoon from the pitcher’s mound at rookie sensation Bryce Harper, piercing the slugger’s right shoulder and placing him on the DL indefinitely. The wound will likely keep Harper out for the rest of the season […]
Phillies 2012 Predictions
Opening Day is upon us, so it is time for our 2012 Phillies predictions. If you haven’t already, check out the predictions for pitching and hitting. Phillies Run Differential Wins and losses generally come down to run differential: how many more(or less) runs did you score than you gave up? Last year, the Phillies had […]
Cole Hamels Ready to Win 2012 Cy Young Award
National League Cy Young winner for 2012 Cole Hamels? Why not? In 2011, his 2.79 earned run average ranked sixth in the NL, his walks plus hits per innings pitched ranked second at 0.99, and he finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting. I looked like a genius for a while when I picked Hamels […]
Hamels Pitched A Remarkable Game, In Case Anyone Noticed
With Cole Hamels on the mound Tuesday night, I bet you couldn’t keep your eyes off the little blue batter’s box on TBS with a teeny pitch count above it. We watched Hamels’ pitch count climb higher and higher, while Garcia finished his innings quicker than a trip to the bathroom. By the third […]
Splits List Section for Starting Pitchers At MoneyStats.COM
This article was written by our friends at MoneyStats.com At MoneyStats, we have developed a Splits List Section for starting pitchers. In our Splits Lists, you can break down the lists by American and National League, by team and by number of starts for easy comparisons. Our Splits Lists include breakdowns on all […]
2011 Phillies Predictions
It’s here: our final 2011 Phillies predictions! With our Phillies predictions blogs complete for the infield, outfield, and starters, we naturally finish with the overall 2011 Phillies predictions blog. To make this year’s Phillies prediction more official, I tried to use as many statistics as possible. I therefore went position by position with […]
BBA 2010 NL Awards for Best Pitcher and Most Valuable Position Player
The Walter Johnson Award Going by the numbers for this award, I analyzed the following metrics: wins minus losses plus strikeouts, walks minus intentional walks (because that’s usually situational), WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched), ERA minus SIERA (a new Baseball Prospectus stat that reflects a pitcher’s true ERA). Points were also deducted for […]
Newly Aquired Phillies Pitcher Roy Oswalt Plays LF Against Former Team
…While Phillies Regular LF Raul Ibanez Moves to 1B Back on Tuesday night in an extra inning game between the Philadelphia Philles and the Houston Astros something special happened. In a move that you don’t see that often anymore, due to Phillies All Star first baseman Ryan Howard‘s ejection, former Astros starting pitcher Roy Oswalt […]
PHILLIES MONTH IN REVIEW: JULY
The story in July was in every way a roller coaster for the Phillies. The Phils entered July having already gone through a historically awful offensive slump in May and June, so when Chase Utley was injured on June 29 and it was announced on July 1st that he would need surgery and would be […]
2010 Projections: Why You Should Buy Low on Phillies’ Pitcher Cole Hamels
After Tuesday night’s gem against St. Louis, Phillies’ starter Cole Hamels lowered his season ERA to a less than desirable 4.42. His stellar 44/12 K/BB ratio and 2.79 BB/9, however, suggests more success is on the horizon…
Nick Kappel’s Fantasy Focus: The All-Overappreciated Team
In last week’s Fantasy Focus, I announced the 2009 All-Underappreciated Team. This week we shift gears, as I present to you the All-Overappreciated Team: Catcher – Russell Martin Martin was the No. 1 drafted catcher in most leagues this year, but has failed to live up to those expectations. The 26-year-old is currently […]
Nick Kappel’s Fantasy Focus: Second Half Studs Part Two
In last week’s fantasy focus, I outlined eight batters who have historically performed at a higher level in the second half of the season. This week, I’m suggesting eight starting pitchers who meet the same criteria. Johan Santana Santana’s first half totals are incredible, but his second half splits are phenomenal. […]
Nick Kappel’s Fantasy Focus: Three Pitchers To Buy Low On
Many starting pitchers who are usually reliable such as Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy, John Lackey and Roy Oswalt have been wildly unpredictable and/or injured through the first ten weeks of the season. If you are one of the unlucky ones who have been become frustrated with your staff’s inconsistency, you might want to look into […]
Philadelphia Phillies Off Season Report
Season Wrap Up The Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Rays, MLB‘s Cinderella story of 2008, to become the World Series Champs! What more needs to be said about 2008 except that Cole Hamels proved that he IS a # 1 starter with his performance in the playoffs. Just in case anyone was questioning his ability […]
Werth the Wait in Philadelphia
Phillies Win Their 2nd World Series Title The Philadelphia Phillies have won the 2008 World Series 4 games to 1 over the Tampa Bay Rays, ending their (the Rays’) Cinderella season. 48 hours after the start of Game 5, they resumed it from the bottom of the 6th tied at 2. They won the series […]
