If Halladay, Utley and Howard stay healthy, they should be in the low 90′s win wise. Sorry that upsets you so

If Halladay, Utley and Howard stay healthy, they should be in the low 90′s win wise. Sorry that upsets you so

So your supposition is that pointing out the Carlos Ruiz had 40 RBI’s in a year, and hence was not a majpor reason the Phillies had the best record in 2011, is akin to somone wanting to clone Stanton 8 times? Please, by all means expand your theory. This is fascnating.

But again, what do I know….I mean, when has a team ever impoved 9 games from one year to the next by having three key players get heallthy?

And hey, just curious – who do you think will have the 7th best offense in the NL this year?

I said the Phillies will improve on 81 wins if the Halladay, Utley and Howard stay healthy (“of” is a conjunction that means “on the condition of” or “in the case of”. I said that would put them in the low 90′s for wins. I have no idea if that will be good enough to make the playoffs….many years it is not.

But what do I know – I had always thought the Phillies had the best record in 2011 based on pitching

I can’t see what is confusing about that statement – but to put it in simpler terms, that is not productive for those two

And wow, the 7th best offense in the league produced the best record? 7th best offense = best record. The team that scored fewer runs then the Mets won it based on offense. Gosh, I stand corrected…..it was the offense that won the division for the Phillies in 2011. And shame on me for saying a team that dropped in every offense category as “stunk”. That is clearly out of bounds….”stunk”. Yea, that is way out of line.

As for what you won – you have won the honor of being labled the guy who finally put an end to all the revisionist historians that said teh Phillies won 102 games based on pitching. It is high time people called out that free loading pitching staff – and you have led the way. And that is what you have won.

“and in fact their offense stunk.”

Sixth in the NL in runs scored, hardly stinking. What do I win?

Name one fact I made up

“you cease to debate honestly”

Again, you start off with point by point details, then when it is coutered (i.e. Ruiz had just 40 RBI’s in 2011, he was not the force you implied he was), you just get into this pettiness.

2012 – .991
2011 – .993
2010 – .990

His poor fielding is just a myth that people who don’t watch the Phillies like to use.

Say what? First of all, Delmon Young may not even play at all – the guy has been hurt. And as of now, it looks like Darrin Ruf will start in the minors. And if he does not, then Freddy Galvis almost certainly will – so how could you have a line up with both? And you are saying that 30% of the Utley AND Howard will be out…..along with Ruiz? (it’s just 25 games, you know)

I’ll but you a brand new iPad if that starting lineup occurs more then 5 times. You have my word, boomark this link for future reference

As for Utley and Howard – again, nothing is certain life (which applies to all teams, btw). But it is hardly a strecth to say they will improve. This is not December anymore, they are out teree playing, and we have data to go by. They both seem vastly impoved physically from not only 2012, but even better physcially then 2011. I don’t see 90 HR’s and 220 RBI from them, but I sure as heck see better than last years 25/101. And again, I am basing that on how they have been so far this spring

You made a lot of points about the 2011 Phillies offense – I pointed out that it was not the offense at all that won the division that year, and in fact their offense stunk. Ergo, if the big three pitchers have a good season this year, and Utley and Howard can do better then a combined 101 RBI’s this year, they should be able to improve from 2012′s 81 wins. You want to counter that – fine. But don’t throw your hands up and act like I am making things up out of thin air – thats El Bravo’s job.

Aging Rollins is still solid, but offensively he is regressing, particularly OBP, and is no longer the base stealing threat he once was. Ruiz is a star, but got caught cheating, so he will be watching early, and one wonders if he can match his offensive numbers, juice-free.

The big Three should be as good if not better than any starting trio in baseball, but the drop-off is now precipitous with Kendrick and Lannan at #4 and #5. The bullpen is solid, best described as very good, but not great.

But consider this: about 30% of the time, they will sport a line-up of Rollins, Revere, Young, Brown, Young, Ruf, Galvis, Kratz, and pitcher. That puts them in the Marlins/Mets category, offensively, and a leagues worst defense. Good Luck Pheelies, this is what you have to look forward to in 2013, and that is if you stay healthy, which isn’t a particularly wise bet.

Roy Halladay is 36, he is not young, he is not ancient. He also is perhaps the best picther of the past decade. But you know that he is to be written off, huh?

Well what if last year is the start of his decline? Most of you Phillies’s fans seem to think last year was some aberration and that they’ll bounce back to previous years? Why can they not get worse? Halladay had his worst ERA since 2000, his worst H/9 since ’07, his worst HR/9 since ’00, his worst BB/9 since ’07. His fastball dropped to 90.6 (was 92.6 and 92.0 with the Phillies so far) which is often a sign of injury. Isn’t it possible he won’t be the Roy of old, and then what?

and they really have no where to go but up with Utley and Howard.

Again, why are you so certain they will be better? They can be far worse. They could easily get injured again or perform like, respectively, league average and far below league average.