Comments on: Your Monday Morning Power Rankings

By: offseasonblues

offseasonblues — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:41:32 +0000

The Fillies won the Derby by a whisker. They’re leading the Preakness by a nose. But the Belmont is the test of champions, and the front runner rarely wins.

By: phillyphan975

phillyphan975 — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:32:56 +0000

I love the power rankings and I am so thankful they crown the World Series Champs every year!

By: jkay123

jkay123 — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:30:24 +0000

right, considering the yankees are only a game behind boston and play them this weekend. i think they could be considered “in the mix”

By: dirtyharry1971

dirtyharry1971 — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:22:16 +0000

both are in first place, good records but the phils beat them in their only series so therefore the phils should get the #1 ranking for now.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:31:55 +0000

Knowing the names of our players, advantage every other team.

By: mojosmagic

mojosmagic — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:05:21 +0000

Hunter Spence, advantage Phils.

By: dcent87

dcent87 — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:57:30 +0000

Can’t wait to see that run dif. During the W.S…..when the sox have to face a rotation like no other in the MLB currently.

By: FC

FC — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:06:14 +0000

The much hyped Run Differential did nothing for Boston when they visited Philly. I will continue to poo-poo on a stat that measures future wins in a seasonal trend being used as a barometer for past performence.

By: FC

FC — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:01:20 +0000

Kevin, Biceps qualified his argument with: Last 7 Days. If the power rankings are a week by week measurement, you have to evaluate what they’re doing in the past week. That said I’m undecided in putting one team over the other.

By: foreverchipper10

foreverchipper10 — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 19:47:55 +0000

For all the Phillies love on this site how is there no mention that Oswalt is making a rehab appearance at AAA in about an hour and a half? I would go to the game but it starts at 5:35 and I work until 7 so……yeah.

By: foreverchipper10

foreverchipper10 — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 19:40:27 +0000

Howard has been on a tear since Pence was inserted into the lineup? What is that…..two days?

By: marinersnate

marinersnate — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:20:57 +0000

“So no one is adding the yankees to this mix at all?”

Yes. How Dare anyone discuss the best teams in MLB without mentioning the Yankees. Aren’t there laws against this sort of thing?

By: spindervish

spindervish — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:36:32 +0000

I’m also a huge fan of Lester. But I don’t really think he belongs in the same class with AL aces like Felix, Verlander or even Sabathia, and people often seem to put him in there. He doesn’t pitch that deep into games, he walks a lot of guys and he seems to get lit up a bit more often than you’d like from a dominant number one. Maybe his park works against him more than the aforementioned three, but even still. Also his velocity is down this year.

I still like him more than Beckett though, despite Beckett having the significantly better year.

By: aceshigh11

aceshigh11 — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:16:24 +0000

Hey, I LOVE Jon Lester…when he’s dealing, there are few better in MLB.

He’s just had a few more shaky starts than normal this year.

I see your point though…he is having a quite good year.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:55:06 +0000

*should read “more” than

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:53:40 +0000

Sorry, spacing was changed by Word Press, and I am too ignorant to know how to remedy that, but nontheless it is obvious, RS impact Run Differential than RA do.

By: jkay123

jkay123 — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:52:49 +0000

So no one is adding the yankees to this mix at all? I guess this weekend will be a sign of some things, not all. Aside from the erratic AJ, their starters have been excellent. Chavez is back, soriano is back, arod coming back soon. It’ll be a nice race for all 3 these final 2 months.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:51:15 +0000

Troubled to come to the Phillie aid, but teams with high-powered offenses almost always have greater run differential then those who are defense and pitching oriented. Year in and year out it is quite consistent. These days the Red Sox are bludgeoning their opponents, which invariably drives up run differential. Look at the 2011 stats, I chose the top 12 teams with positive run differential and compared them to Wins, and then RS and RA. It is obvious that RS are significantly more indicative of RD than RA

Run Differential Wins RS RA

NYY PHI BOS PHI
BOS BOS NYY SFG
PHI NYY TEX ATL
TEX ATL STL LAA
ATL TEX TOR SDP
STL SFG CIN SEA
CIN MIL ARI OAK
TBR ARI DET PIT
ARI LAA NYM NYY
LAA STL COL WAS
TOR DET PHI CHW
NYM TBR KCR TBR

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:28:13 +0000

“run differential is not the same as “total runs scored.””

Spindervish, Actually I know that. I have trouble remembering that I know that for some reason. But yeah, the SOX are an offensive juggernaut and the Phills are a defensive one . I would expect this “trend” to continue right up until the end of the season. And it really doesn’t mean anything anyway. besides what i said, “Offensive Juggernaut”. Which becomes “Juggernaught ” anyway when facing a spectacular pitcher.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:24:04 +0000

And the Phillies played all 7 at home. Probably still advantage Phillies, but worth noting.

By: bleedgreen

bleedgreen — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:20:37 +0000

The Red Sox also played the Orioles 7 games in July.

By: spindervish

spindervish — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:13:08 +0000

Everybody keeps underrating Bedard. The guy is nasty. The fact that he can’t seem to stay healthy doesn’t change that. As someone (I think Pouilot) said recently, “Bedard has never been healthy and bad.”

Also, his DL stint this year was due to knee trouble, not arm trouble, which seems significantly less worrisome to me. Assuming his knee is healed, he should return to being nasty soon enough.

I think a healthy Bedard is clearly better than anyone in the Yankees rotation not named Sabathia.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:11:05 +0000

Why don’t people think Lester is having a great season?

2010 19-9, 3.25 ERA, 134 ERA+, 1.20 WHIP, 2.71 K/BB, 4th in the Cy Young vote.
2011 11-4, 3.17 ERA, 129 ERA+, 1.19 WHIP, 2.88 K/BB, “Good but not dominant.”

I swear, Jon Lester is the most underrated starting pitcher in the AL, even by Red Sox fans.

By: spindervish

spindervish — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:06:12 +0000

It’s staggering that some people have trouble with this: run differential is not the same as “total runs scored.” If the Sox have the DH and so do their opponents, and the Phillies don’t have the DH and neither do their opponents, then the DH is irrelevant to this comparison. The Sox will likely end up playing higher-scoring games, but that has nothing to do with run differential.

The lesser pitching/lesser opponents argument is fine, however.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:05:47 +0000

Yeah, it really sucked for Boston’s opponents that THEY weren’t allowed to use a DH. Totally unfair.

By: cktai

cktai — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:58:34 +0000

Those numbers are with Valdez and Martinez filling in for Utley half the time though.
Checkout this line up (in wRC+)

Victorino 151
Utley 146
Mayberry 113
Howard 119
Pence 135
Rollins 111
Polanco 90
Ruiz 107
Pitchers ~0 (although Lee has 54)

It’s not the Red Sox, but its pretty darn good.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:57:49 +0000

Ari, I like you. Even with your “stat head” you still can be such a homer at times. It’s endearing actually….

Run differential while having the DH in a league with lesser pitching while you face lesser opponents will net you a better run diff every single week. lol..

By: aceshigh11

aceshigh11 — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:55:21 +0000

The Red Sox pitching is still highly suspect.

I’m loving our offense (who wouldn’t?) but it’s hard to breathe easy when anyone takes the mound, aside from perhaps Beckett (who has the potential to regress any game now).

Lester has been good but not dominant, and the rest of the staff is walking a tightrope. Bullpen…same thing, aside from Bard and a somewhat better-than-usual Papelbon.

Bedard does nothing to calm my fears.

By: halladaysbiceps

halladaysbiceps — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:51:22 +0000

kelly,

Great point. Just by strength of opponents, the Phillies should be #1.

By: kellyb9

kellyb9 — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:39:18 +0000

Depends on who a team’s playing. The Red Sox played the Royals and the White Sox this week… the Phillies played the Giants and the Pirates. The Phillies had the tougher week…. they get the top spot IMO.