They’ve essentially hovered between two and four games under .500 for the entire season, once getting a game over, and a few times finding themselves five games under. To me, there’s no better indicator that this team is going nowhere. They’re just doggy-paddling their way to edge of the graph with no real purpose. Every little one- or two-game winning streak is balanced – quite rhythmically, actually – with a one- or two-game losing streak. It’s… nice, but rather unfulfilling. If this graph represented sexual intensity, the Phillies would be just meh, while the Braves would be oh baby!… and the Marlins would be oh my god please stop I’m bleeding.
The Phillies are what they are. No better, but not much worse either. There’s no indication that they have the ability to put together a long winning or losing streak. And that may be a problem: They’re handicapable enough to hover at or around .500 long enough for Ruben Amaro to make fickle and foolish moves. Signing Carlos Zambrano, a nutjob at the end of his career who might be able to squeeze a few more months of value out of his arm, was a sign that Amaro thought the season could be salvaged, because otherwise, you’d want give [insert minor leaguer] an opportunity, or get someone who might not choke out his pitching coach. But then there are the very real trade rumors surrounding Cliff Lee and Jonathan Papelbon– obvious signs of rebuilding. You can’t have it both ways– either you buy or you sell. Unfortunately, the Phillies could be just good enough, but just bad enough too, to do neither… or do both… when what they should do is fire Amaro and Charlie Manuel and go from there.
You can see all the divisions after the jump.
20 Comments
and the Marlins would be oh my god please stop I’m bleeding. -That made me throw up in my mouth. Thanks man.
Well this is odd….reposting someone else’s work without really adding anything
added about 500 words to something that had no words
In other words, one step forward, two steps back. Didn’t need any fancy graphs to know that. Watching yesterday’s train wreck convinced me that the Phillies are dead team walking, problem is, they’ll hover at or near .500 just long enough for Lee and/or Papelbon to potentially lose value while Ruben waits in vain for this kennel of mutts to magically transform into the ’27 Yankees. Clearly that’s not happening. I say, back up the Mayflower vans and break up this mess right now, trade who they can, dump who they must, bring up the kids worthy of calling up and get a head start on the rebuilding process. This is NOT a playoff team, and waiting until next month’s trade deadline won’t change a damn thing.
What’s funny, is that i’m looking up and down for evidence to back up the point that the phillies have consistently been a second half team for the entirety of charlie manuel’s existence in philly, and all that need be done is stick around .500 and/or less than 5 out from a playoff spot (a la the athletics in the film ‘moneyball’) and here i find a great article from 2008 )http://www.philliesflow.com/tag/record-at-the-all-star-break/) on how charlie manuel’s (not Jerry manuel) teams in the five years prior to 2008 (two in cleveland) have proved to be second half teams as well. i don’t have a fancy graph or anything, but i’m looking at the numbers post A/S break: 2000: 46/30 2001: 49/36 2005: 43/30 2006:45/30 2007: 45/29 2008: 39/26 2009:43/31 2010: 50-25 2011:45-26 2012:44-30 i mean, give this team a break and stop telling us how bad they are. according to CBS Sports they are 6th in the NL in avg, and 4th in the NL in HR. just those two stats alone should keep this team at or around .500. sure we have some glaring weakspots, see: short/long relief, Timely Hitting, two out hits, overall staff ERA… but this team ISN’T as bad as you and other philadelphia media aims to put it. even if they finish the first half at or around .500, with an average W/L ratio post A/S break from ’01 through ’12, we’re looking at approximately 45-30. if the phillies are at or around .500 at the a/s break (meaning approximately 43/43), you’re almost a lock to make 90+ wins and with the statistics, if they keep to the norm, assure yourself a playoff spot. as well know, a playoff spot is all you need to win a title. just sayin.
boy does that sound optimistic. but the numbers suggest that this average first half team can be a post-season possible, and as history suggests, a WC team CAN and HAS won the WS. and if you think this season is bad? go watch 1989 phillies or something… all those people with “ILL” shirts think the sky is falling… those people born in the 80’s and 70’s have seen worse… MUCH worse.
I wonder how closely the few Marlins win coincide with the Phils schedule?
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