Post by Bish on Jan 22, 2024 14:49:27 GMT -5
Phillies 2009 September/October Report
Record: 22-6
Home: 12-2
Road: 10-4
Positive Team Stat: HRs Allowed—63 (1st)
Notes: This was the only thing we were the best at. We just simply didn’t let teams beat us with the long ball. This is certainly a big thing…especially come playoff time. When you have arms like Ben Sheets, Cole Hamels, Chris Young, John Thomson, and Brad Radke. This doesn’t even include the elite arms we have coming out of the bullpen. Simply a fun pitching staff in full, and the scariest thing? We are adding one of the truly premier young arms in Gio Gonzalez from the Washington Nationals. He is going to even raise the bar even higher for a team that is fueled by high end competition. I’m looking forward to us potentially getting back to being the best pitching staff that I know this team can be when healthy.
Negative Team Stat: Batting Average—.262 (14th)
Notes: This team’s downfall could ultimately be that we don’t find a way to get enough timely hits. We hit for power, we display patience, and we can steal bases with the best of them. We just simply do not hit for a high enough average for whatever reason. I am completely annoyed by that fact because we have the talent. It would be one thing if we didn’t, and so maybe we need to fire our idiotic hitting coach. Either way, I still believe in this club because despite being middle of the pack in team batting average, we still grabbed hold of a tie for most wins in the entire league. If we do hit for a high average, then watch out!
Major League Spotlight
Best Hitter: C Carlos Ruiz (12 Games)
Playoff Stats: .396/.431/.667/1.098 OPS 4 2Bs 0 3Bs 3 HRs 10 RBIs 4 Runs 1 BBs 4 Ks
Notes: I typically will reward a batter who played most of the month, but none of those guys simply made that much of a difference. This isn’t to say they were terrible, but they were just mostly fine. Nobody was stellar…except Chooch who was simply outstanding. This is also fitting because Chooch was simply our best bat in the beginning of the season (the first month), and he is our best hitter this last month. He’s such a game changing bat at such a tough position to fill. We love him deeply!
Best Pitcher: SP Ben Sheets
Playoff Stats: 7 Starts 7-0 1.86 ERA 58 IP 31 Hs 12 ERs 9 BBs 67 Ks
Notes: There he is! Ben Sheets finally arrived just in time! He absolutely dominated the last month as he notched seven wins in his seven starts. He averaged over eight innings per start and averaged over nine strikeouts per start as well. Just absolute dominance. This is big because the Phillies need him to keep it going if they want to make a deep run in the playoffs with such a loaded field. Ben Sheets’ numbers are just absolutely insane during the playoffs. Can he keep that up? I believe he can, and that will be critical for this Phillies squad. A side note is Ben Sheets just entered the career leaderboard for earned runs average. He sits at 2.38 which is 7th all time. He’s that special of a talent, and we look forward to seeing him lower that ERA as he continues to progress moving forward.
Minor League Spotlight
Prospect: 1B Wilmer Flores (AAA)
Notes: He recently just got another PD (player development) which is going to even make him a scarier hitter in the future. He’s coming off his first season in Triple A, and he slashed .290/.354/.575. He hit 36 doubles, 43 dingers, drove in 133 runs, and scored 100 runs. Absolutely bonkers. The scariest thing? He’s only 18 years old, and just turned that in August. He is a force to be reckoned with, and the Phillies are just doing a beautiful job of continuing to retool, and get this team in a younger spot while being an absolute juggernaut. Kudos to Bish!
Record: 22-6
Home: 12-2
Road: 10-4
Positive Team Stat: HRs Allowed—63 (1st)
Notes: This was the only thing we were the best at. We just simply didn’t let teams beat us with the long ball. This is certainly a big thing…especially come playoff time. When you have arms like Ben Sheets, Cole Hamels, Chris Young, John Thomson, and Brad Radke. This doesn’t even include the elite arms we have coming out of the bullpen. Simply a fun pitching staff in full, and the scariest thing? We are adding one of the truly premier young arms in Gio Gonzalez from the Washington Nationals. He is going to even raise the bar even higher for a team that is fueled by high end competition. I’m looking forward to us potentially getting back to being the best pitching staff that I know this team can be when healthy.
Negative Team Stat: Batting Average—.262 (14th)
Notes: This team’s downfall could ultimately be that we don’t find a way to get enough timely hits. We hit for power, we display patience, and we can steal bases with the best of them. We just simply do not hit for a high enough average for whatever reason. I am completely annoyed by that fact because we have the talent. It would be one thing if we didn’t, and so maybe we need to fire our idiotic hitting coach. Either way, I still believe in this club because despite being middle of the pack in team batting average, we still grabbed hold of a tie for most wins in the entire league. If we do hit for a high average, then watch out!
Major League Spotlight
Best Hitter: C Carlos Ruiz (12 Games)
Playoff Stats: .396/.431/.667/1.098 OPS 4 2Bs 0 3Bs 3 HRs 10 RBIs 4 Runs 1 BBs 4 Ks
Notes: I typically will reward a batter who played most of the month, but none of those guys simply made that much of a difference. This isn’t to say they were terrible, but they were just mostly fine. Nobody was stellar…except Chooch who was simply outstanding. This is also fitting because Chooch was simply our best bat in the beginning of the season (the first month), and he is our best hitter this last month. He’s such a game changing bat at such a tough position to fill. We love him deeply!
Best Pitcher: SP Ben Sheets
Playoff Stats: 7 Starts 7-0 1.86 ERA 58 IP 31 Hs 12 ERs 9 BBs 67 Ks
Notes: There he is! Ben Sheets finally arrived just in time! He absolutely dominated the last month as he notched seven wins in his seven starts. He averaged over eight innings per start and averaged over nine strikeouts per start as well. Just absolute dominance. This is big because the Phillies need him to keep it going if they want to make a deep run in the playoffs with such a loaded field. Ben Sheets’ numbers are just absolutely insane during the playoffs. Can he keep that up? I believe he can, and that will be critical for this Phillies squad. A side note is Ben Sheets just entered the career leaderboard for earned runs average. He sits at 2.38 which is 7th all time. He’s that special of a talent, and we look forward to seeing him lower that ERA as he continues to progress moving forward.
Minor League Spotlight
Prospect: 1B Wilmer Flores (AAA)
Notes: He recently just got another PD (player development) which is going to even make him a scarier hitter in the future. He’s coming off his first season in Triple A, and he slashed .290/.354/.575. He hit 36 doubles, 43 dingers, drove in 133 runs, and scored 100 runs. Absolutely bonkers. The scariest thing? He’s only 18 years old, and just turned that in August. He is a force to be reckoned with, and the Phillies are just doing a beautiful job of continuing to retool, and get this team in a younger spot while being an absolute juggernaut. Kudos to Bish!
