209 Home Runs for 2009 and counting

by Joseph Birmingham

Friday September 18, 2009 

209 Home Runs for 2009 and counting thumbnail

The Phillies won again.  Hit 4 homeruns.  Ho hum.  We Phanatics are getting spoiled.  This is a really good team, with a lot of depth.

Example 1. Pitching :  Happ left in the third with a mystery injury, probably reinjured his oblique muscle, and with all the talk about the bullpen, Kendrick comes in and pitches 4 innings of shut out 2 hit relief.   The Phillies bullpen for all it’s late inning woes has been notorious this year for clutch long middle inning relief, between Happ early in the year, Madsen all year long, Moyer late in the year and Kendrick tonight, all 4 pitched 4 innings or longer in relief of starters for various reasons.

And these starters are pretty dang good !  Lee, Hamels, Blanton, Martinez, Happ.  put those five on any other ball club and at least three would make the starting rotation.  Two of the three could be staff aces just about anywhere in the league as well.

Example 2. Fielding  :  Jimmy Rollins is playing spectacular at shortstop, turning difficult plays into routine, fielding the short hop like the ball is on a string, throwing with incredible accuracy.   But Rollins is a horrible offensive weapon right?  1st in at bats, 4th in stolen bases, 7th in doubles, 13th in hits, 13th in runs scored,   Hmmmm, low average around .250 for Jimmy, but overall, not really too bad.  He just appears to be worse than he is because the rest of the team is batting so well.  His 3 run jack in the ninth inning to stretch a 2 run lead into a rout didn’t hurt his playing stock.

Example 3.  Power :  Ryan Howard hit his 40th home run for the 4th straight year.  And he did it naturally.  Another day at the ball park.

I mentioned before it is hard to pick out a Phillies as MVP because they are so well balanced and they all contribute. Much has been made of Albert Puhols numbers, Howard is 7 home runs behind him, 6 RBI’s behind him, and raised his average to a quite respectable .272 in tonights game. If he can eliminate 70 or 80 strikeouts he can potentially threaten for the elusive triple crown.  He tied Chuck Klein for the second place spot for most multi homerun games as a Phillie in team history.

Example 4. Confidence :  The Phillies actually have a better road record than home record, and in the last 7 years they have won 44 games on the road four times.   Only a team with a lot of depth can manage to win away from home consistently.  It takes a team dynamic, and a real focus to getting the little things done to overcome the inherent home field advantage that frequently.

Example 5.  Scoring :  The Phillies very well could have 4 30 home run 100 RBI guys on the squad by the end of the year.  And 6 players scoring 100 runs.   I don’t think that has ever been done.  If it has, I couldn’t find an example of it.

Bottom line, on any given day, any given player might display his talents and assist the team to a victory.  As they head to the playoffs to defend the championship, on a night when the starting pitcher and starting catcher both left the game early, no one on the Phillies bench looked especially worried, after all, they have depth, and plenty of backup and role players just waiting to come out and show what they can do.

By the way, Howard hit 2, Rollins hit 1, Fransisco hit 1, and the Phillies won going away again 9-4 over the “better luck next year Braves”

We Phillies fans are getting spoiled, and I for one, love it!

Filed Under Phillies

Comments

3 Responses to “209 Home Runs for 2009 and counting”

  1. JerseyJoe on September 19th, 2009 6:39 pm

    I agree with what you are saying here Joe. Another dominateing performance. Shane out Ben in. Happ hurt Kendrick steps up. The Braves can wait until next year.

  2. BigGreek24 on September 22nd, 2009 9:36 am

    I have to say just two years ago I didn’t see three division titles in a row coming because up until September the Mets really looked unbeatable that year coming off 2006. First time since 1976-1978 that we’ve seen the Phillies dominate the East like this.

  3. BigGreek24 on September 22nd, 2009 9:37 am

    I hate the Braves – everything about them. Bobby Cox is an awful manager – c’mon, one World Series win in all those years with all that talent? He was the GM in 1990 and fired his manager knowing the talent that was coming up and named himself manager. I call that being an opportunist. I can’t stand that “chop”, either.

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