‘Strength’ Of Schedule: Should Phils Be Happy?
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Wed, May 20, 2009 10:00 AM | Comments: 60
Posts, Raising Questions
At first glance a 21-16 record is fine work; especially with all the early distractions, it’s good the Phillies have skated out to a nice record. Of course, a look closer and you’ll find the effort behind the record.
Phillies vs.
Nationals: 7-2
Braves: 2-4
Mets: 1-3
Marlins: 3-0
Rockies: 2-1
Brewers: 1-2
Padres: 1-2
Dodgers: 1-2
Cardinals: 2-0
Reds: 1-0
Take out the Nationals and the Phillies are a square 14-14 team. The nine games against the Nationals have contributed to what ESPN has determined to be the easiest schedule in the league — a collective winning percentage of .474.
So now I ask, are you happy with a 21-16 record?
Posts: 0 Frank
the phils have 2 get a good sp
Posted: 02:40 PM on May 20, 2009
Posts: 0 Griffin
The Phillies opponents so far have a winning percentage of .497 whereas their opponents the rest of the way have a .508 winning percentage.
The soft schedule and big time offense have kept the Phillies in the running, but if the starting pitching doesn’t improve, the Phillies will be mired in mediocrity all year long.
Posted: 02:41 PM on May 20, 2009
Posts: 0 Keystone
This is from Larry Dobrow for CBS sports power ranking-
“One day they steal seven bases, the next they make five errors and forget to touch third base before heading homeward. I don’t know if they’re a good team, but they certainly keep things lively. … Maybe Mets fans should issue an apology of some sort to David Wright, who got blamed for the team’s early stumbles with runners in scoring position. They’ve passed Boston and Philly boosters as the game’s shoutiest and quickest to overreact. … If the Metsies try Daniel Murphy at first base, he’ll be one of only a few major leaguers able to play four positions incompetently. You can’t put a price tag on that kind of versatility.”
It made me laugh.
Posted: 03:07 PM on May 20, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
That’s pretty funny..
Posted: 03:16 PM on May 20, 2009
Posts: 0 Keith E
ESPN has too much free time!
It doesn’t matter who you play. You still need to beat the teams on the schedule. The year is measured in wins and losses not strength of schedule.
What do they think this is NCAA football? Morons!!! You can’t “take out the Nats”!! They’re on the schedule. To answer your question; yes I’m happy sitting at 21-16.
GO PHILS!!!!!
Posted: 04:02 PM on May 20, 2009
Posts: 0 cxl72
I’d be worried about strength of schedule, RPI and Sagarin ratings if this were college football. In baseball it doesn’t matter.
I’ve always thought the teams with the best road records were the top teams because that eliminates home field advantage. The phils have had home field DIS-advantage so far.
Who in the NL do we fear? All 4 of our games against the Mets were started by Moyer and Park so 1 and 3 isn’t that bad.
Posted: 04:38 PM on May 20, 2009
Posts: 0 Johnny Goodtimes
I could care less if all 21 of our wins were against the St. Mary’s Orphanage for the Blind, as long as they counted in the Major League standings.
Posted: 05:03 PM on May 20, 2009
Posts: 0 Joey
You can only win the games you play. While I dont want to beat up on blind kids all season, I consider a good start for a team thats traditionally slow starters and play their best ball in bunches in the summer months.
Posted: 07:35 PM on May 20, 2009
Posts: 0 clktwr14
Key pharse in this article:
ESPN has determined it to be the easiest schedule, who the hell are ESPN anyway, but a bunch of writers and wannabes, yeah they have Kruk, Winfield and Joe Morgan, but what does Buster Olney, Peter Gammons and Steve Phillips really know about playing the game, that’s like Chris Wheeler talking about how to hit a game-winning home run in the Final Game of the World Series,or how to catch a fly ball in the outfield he never did it so ESPN can stick their strentgh of schedule BS.
Posted: 07:36 PM on May 20, 2009
Posts: 0 John Russo
A win is a win. It’s early in the year, teams play differently in the beginning and only the good teams truely show up in August/September. If you’re going to say that about the Phillies and their record versus Washington than you’re going to have to do it for the rest of the division.
I’d be worried if they weren’t beating the Nats.
Posted: 07:44 PM on May 20, 2009