I know I am late but I don’t follow baseball much,

I just wanted to express my feelings, I’m happy for Philly fans in general, let’s hope that Sixers can do what Phillies did and still can do

Today, Gavin Floyd is scheduled to pitch in an attempt to extend the White Sox season.  The Tigers are sending Freddy Garcia to the mound in opposition.

Yesterday, Wes Helms hit the go ahead home run in the Marlins win over the Mets.  At least we were able to get some production out of him, even though it was indirect.  I guess it’s only fair since we paid his salary this year.

In 1980, the Phils clinched the NL East with a victory over the  Expos in Montreal on the second to last day of the season.  I know we clinched against the Nationals at home, but it could still be a good omen, right?

Looks like we will be getting Sabathia in games 2 and 5.  Game 2 will be his 4th consecutive start on 3 days rest.  If it wasn’t for the fact that the Brewers have to go through us, I would love to see how long Sabathia can continue this before he finally blows apart.

I’d like to send out a big thank you to Mark Reynolds, our new strikeout record holder with 204.  I can’t believe Howard ended under 200 (199 again) for the season.  I’m also amazed at his end of season numbers.  Pretty much everything (runs, doubles, hr, rbi,) is right in line with his previous seasons.  The glaring exception is walks.  In 2006 he had 108.  In 2007 he had 107.  In 2008 he had only 81.  If you give him 26 more walks, his average climbs to .262 (2007 was .268) and his OBP goes up to .362 (2007 was .392). 

I’m not saying those numbers (avg. and obp) are fantastic.  I also know that he did not get those numbers this year.  However, if you check, you will find the difference between this year and his MVP 2006 comes down to 29 hits and 27 walks, which amounts to 1 hit and 1 walk per week.  That’s not a ridiculous drop off, but it goes to show that a little less production each week adds up to noticeably diminshed numbers at the end of the season.  I am hoping that he grows as a hitter and can get those 29 hits and 27 walks back. 

Obviously, consistency throughout the season will go a long way toward that end.  To break it down even further, in 2006 Howard had 37 intentional walks.  In 2007 he had 35.  This year he had 17.  So, of the 27 walk deficit he needs to make up, 18-20 were because of not getting intentional walks.  This is where the consistency comes in (It also shows that his knowledge of the strike zone or his plate discipline really wasn’t that different this year compared to other years.).  Howard had long stretches of ineffectiveness this year when there was no need to walk him intentionally, and it hurt him and us.

Even with this slippage he is getting a lot of MVP buzz, courtesy of his smoking September and the fact the we won the division.  The vote will be interesting.

Everything played out just like I said…and hoped.  Sabathia threw a complete game (122 pitches) and gave the Brewers exactly what they needed.  Meanwhile, the Mets came up small…again!

We are set up pretty well so I’m expecting us to make some noise this year.
 
P.S.  It was great to see pretty much every guy off the bench step in and contribute today.  Nice to end the season on a winning note.