The Good Phight

You Be the Lip Reader - Cliff Lee/Shane Victorino Fight

2012-05-26T14:03:12Z

Unfortunately, the team hasn't released an official transcript of last night's fight between Cliff Lee and Shane Victorino. So, we'll just have to do our best.

Below, share with us your unofficial lip reading of last night's confrontation. Don't hold back - it can't be any worse than lip reading Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, or Barack Obama.

Raul Valdes Pulls Down Cardinals' Pants And Laughs At Them: Phillies 5, Cardinals 3 (10 Innings)

2012-05-26T05:37:04Z

(Our mighty and benevolent bloglord WholeCamels has introduced a contest on Twitter to write a recap in the FanPosts section where the winner gets frontpage'd. This is my feeble attempt.) EDITOR'S NOTE: Good enough for me! Thank you, and enjoy! - WholeCamels

May 25, 2011.

Most remember this day as the day Oprah Winfrey bid farewell to The Oprah Winfrey Show. It was, after all, a monumental occasion in talk show television history. However, there are a few out there who remember this day for something else. These loud-mouth, classless scumbags think not of Oprah Winfrey when they think of May 25, 2011. No. Instead, they think of a man. A myth. A legend. They think of Wilson Valdez. They think of Wilson Valdez's finest hour when he came on to pitch in the 19th inning after playing 18 innings at second base while going 3 for 6 at the plate. These people, Philadelphia Phillies fans, think of greatness.

May 25, 2012

It is precisely 366 days later. Once again a man named Valdezs finds himself on the mound pitching the 19th inning. The opponent is different, but after a rough start that includes a single, a sacrifice and a walk, Raul Valdes stands on the mound and looked into Tyler Greene's eyes with a look that can only be described as "I Am Valdes Hear Me Roar". Strike 3. Matt Holliday now walks up to the guillotine, quivering with a very rightful fright. He knows the inevitable outcome. Try as he might to make contact, Matt Holliday can only swing aimlessly at strike three. The mightiest of gods had been reduced to the merest of mortals. Extra innings we would go again on May 25. Again, thine hero's name is Valdes.

There are other details from this game. Details such as Jimmy Rollins singling home Placido Polanco, Cliff Lee's slump continuing, Carlos Ruiz blocking the plate like a MAN, Hunter Pence hitting a game-winning 2-run home run in the 10th inning, and Jonathan Papelbon picking up a save. But all these details are insignificant when compared to the accomplishments of the great Valdes.

On most days, the Valdezs is a nothing. A nobody. A replacement level waste of space. But on May 25, he transforms himself into something larger than life. And for this, I, your humble guest-recapper, can only bow down in awe.

Two Pence: Phillies 5, Cardinals 3 (10)

2012-05-26T04:07:46Z

Cliff Lee still hasn't won a game, but the Phillies prevailed in ten innings thanks to a two run blast from Hunter Pence that gave the Phillies a 5-3 victory over the Cardinals.

More later...

The Unbearable Lohse-ness of Lee-ing: Phillies at Cardinals Game Thread, May 25, 2012

2012-05-26T00:00:14Z

And we move on to game two of this four game holiday weekend series between the Phillies and Cardinals with a pair of pitchers were interesting Phillies postseason histories.

Cliff Lee, master of the 2009 playoff run (and let's not talk about 2011 NLDS Game Two) and Kyle Lohse, Kaz Matsui Grand Slammist.

No nudity please.

Discuss the game below.

Next Game

Philadelphia Phillies
@ St. Louis Cardinals

Friday, May 25, 2012, 8:15 PM EDT
Busch Stadium

Cliff Lee vs Kyle Lohse

Clear. Winds blowing from right to left field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 90.

Complete Coverage >

Cliff Lee

#33 / Pitcher / Philadelphia Phillies

Height: 6-3

Weight: 190

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Aug 30, 1978

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2012 - Cliff Lee	0-2	6	6	0	0	0	0	44.0	33	13	13	5	5	40	2.66	.86

Kyle Lohse

#26 / Pitcher / St. Louis Cardinals

Height: 6-2

Weight: 210

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Oct 04, 1978

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2012 - Kyle Lohse	5-1	9	9	0	0	0	0	55.2	56	20	18	4	9	36	2.91	1.17

There Are No Worries: The Streaker's Ode

2012-05-25T15:00:06Z

It was a project of mine to replace the tournament with something which might furnish an escape for the extra steam of the chivalry, keep those bucks entertained and out of mischief, and at the same time preserve the best thing in them, which was their hardy spirit of emulation. I had had a choice band of them in private training for some time, and the date was now arriving for their first public effort.

This experiment was baseball.*

Where ash and maple crash and horsehide's

Red stitching

clash under the purplepink dusk sky

Midwestern Mississippi cries of MARK TWAIN voice passing down

Through American generations

Heroes emerge, scrambling for a Gateway's freedom

Manifest Destiny

Freesway

HAKUNA MATATA

"There are no worries anymore."

Cloven in two, Solomon's wisdom

*Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Chapter 40

How Inconsistent is the Phillies' Offense?

2012-05-25T14:48:02Z

Not very.

If by "inconsistent", we are talking about the fact that they started very slowly, but have done better lately, then Yes!

First 16 games: 2.7 runs per game (15th in the NL), and they were also 15th in scoring 3+ or 4+ runs
Last 30 games: 4.8 runs per game (3rd in the NL), 5th most games of 3+, 2nd most games of 4+

But it seems that most times when people call the offense inconsistent they mean that the Phillies score a lot some days, and struggle some others. Well, of course, every team does that to some extent. So does the Phillies' scoring fluctuate more than most other teams?

The way to determine this is by calculating the standard deviation for each team to measure how far each game's score differs from that team's average. Also, because higher scoring teams will tend to have bigger numerical differences, we control for that by dividing the standard deviation by the team's average runs per game.

If we compare the NL teams' stats since the start of the season, the Phillies have been the 6th most inconsistent team in league:

Total 2012	ATL	MIA	NYM	PHI	WSN	CHC	CIN	HOU	MIL	PIT	STL	ARI	COL	LAD	SDP	SFG	AVG
StDev	3.7	2.6	2.5	3.0	2.2	2.2	2.4	2.9	3.3	2.1	3.2	2.6	3.8	2.4	2.4	2.5	2.8
RPG	4.9	3.9	4.1	4.1	3.6	3.5	3.9	4.1	4.3	2.8	5.3	4.2	4.9	4.6	3.3	4.1	4.1
SD/RPG	0.77	0.66	0.60	0.74	0.60	0.63	0.63	0.70	0.76	0.74	0.61	0.63	0.77	0.53	0.74	0.62	0.69
rank	2	8	15	6	14	9	10	7	3	5	13	11	1	16	4	12

So not only is the Cards' offense potent, it's consistently potent. Also, a good part of the inconsistency in Colorado's numbers is likely due to the difference between its home and away parks.

However if we look at the first 16 games and the last 30 separately, it's a different picture:

In the first 16 games, they were the most inconsistent:

Thru 4/22	ATL	MIA	NYM	PHI	WSN	CHC	CIN	HOU	MIL	PIT	STL	ARI	COL	LAD	SDP	SFG	AVG
StDev	3.9	2.8	2.0	2.4	1.7	2.4	2.7	3.4	2.7	1.6	3.6	2.1	4.1	2.1	2.6	2.0	2.8
RPG	5.7	3.8	3.8	2.7	3.6	3.7	3.3	4.4	4.2	2.0	5.1	4.0	4.8	4.3	3.5	4.1	3.9
SD/RPG	0.69	0.75	0.54	0.88	0.46	0.65	0.82	0.78	0.64	0.80	0.69	0.52	0.86	0.49	0.75	0.48	0.71
rank	9	7	12	1	16	10	3	5	11	4	8	13	2	14	6	15

But over the last 30, they've been only the 10th most inconsistent (i.e. 7th most consistent) offense in the NL:

Since 4/23	ATL	MIA	NYM	PHI	WSN	CHC	CIN	HOU	MIL	PIT	STL	ARI	COL	LAD	SDP	SFG	AVG
StDev	3.6	2.5	2.6	3.1	2.5	2.2	2.3	2.6	3.7	2.2	3.1	2.9	3.6	2.6	2.3	2.8	2.9
RPG	4.4	4.0	4.3	4.8	3.6	3.4	4.2	4.0	4.4	3.3	5.4	4.3	4.9	4.8	3.1	4.1	4.2
SD/RPG	0.82	0.63	0.62	0.64	0.68	0.63	0.54	0.66	0.83	0.67	0.57	0.68	0.73	0.55	0.74	0.68	0.68
rank	2	11	13	10	7	12	16	9	1	8	14	5	4	15	3	6

Big innings

Another type of inconsistency raised in the Naked Punch comments is within the game, i.e. scoring runs in bunches rather than spreading them throughout the game. I don’t have the data for other teams, but this is how many runs the Phillies have scored by the size of the inning:

1 – 62 (33%)
2 – 42 (22%)
3 – 24 (13%)
4 – 28 (15%)
5 – 20 (11%)
6 – 12 (6%)

So 45% of runs have been scored in innings of 3 runs or more. That’s kind of interesting, but I have no way of knowing if that’s high, low, or neither.

I will add though, that since the unit for Wins and Losses isn't the inning but the game, this is more of an academic question, with little bearing on the success of a team.

ADDENDUM

So, no surprise, Baseball-Refence has the data on scoring by inning (here - scroll halfway down).

And the Phillies are in fact among the highest in bunching their runs in big innings:

- The 45% calculated above for innings with 3+ runs is 3rd in the NL
- They are #1 in the percentage of runs scored in innings of 4 or more (32%)
- They are 2nd in runs scored in innings of 5 or more (17%)

	Innings with X runs						Runs Scored by Inning size						% of runs scored in big innings
	0	1	2	3	4	5+	1	2	3	4	5+	Total	3+ %	rank	4+ %	rank	5+ %	rank
ATL	287	69	32	12	7	5	69	64	36	28	27	224	41%	4	25%	4	12%	4
MIA	304	66	23	12	2	4	66	46	36	8	21	177	37%	9	16%	12	12%	5
NYM	287	68	22	14	7	1	68	44	42	28	5	187	40%	6	18%	10	3%	16
PHI	308	62	21	8	7	6	62	42	24	28	32	188	45%	3	32%	1	17%	2
WSN	295	67	21	11	4	1	67	42	33	16	5	163	33%	13	13%	13	3%	15
CHC	301	66	15	7	8	1	66	30	21	32	6	155	38%	8	25%	5	4%	13
CIN	295	60	26	8	6	2	60	52	24	24	11	171	35%	11	20%	7	6%	10
HOU	287	57	26	13	6	2	57	52	39	24	10	182	40%	5	19%	9	5%	11
MIL	295	61	27	10	2	7	61	54	30	8	38	191	40%	7	24%	6	20%	1
PIT	303	60	26	3	0	1	60	52	9	0	5	126	11%	16	4%	16	4%	12
STL	278	55	36	17	11	3	55	72	51	44	18	240	47%	1	26%	2	8%	8
ARI	290	59	33	10	3	4	59	66	30	12	21	188	34%	12	18%	11	11%	6
COL	273	61	25	15	5	5	61	50	45	20	33	209	47%	2	25%	3	16%	3
LAD	272	59	39	8	6	3	59	78	24	24	16	201	32%	14	20%	8	8%	7
SDP	319	60	22	9	2	2	60	44	27	8	11	150	31%	15	13%	14	7%	9
SFG	306	45	37	14	4	1	45	74	42	16	7	184	35%	10	13%	15	4%	14
	4700	975	431	171	80	48	975	862	513	320	266	2936	37%		20%		9%

The Pirates have been amazing so far. Not only are they only averaging 2.9 runs per game, but they have only had 4 (FOUR!) innings all year in which they've scored more than 2 runs.

You can pick your nose, you can pick your 6, but I'd strongly urge against attempts to pick your 6's noses. 5/25/12

2012-05-25T14:33:25Z

Big numbers yesterday, but on the overall leaderboard, we came behind 2 Mets fans. This is unconscionable, preposterous and other words I can't spell without using spell check. Today we rectify it.

It's 50 Cent Fridays everybody! So consult your inner Andrew Friedman and let's climb the leaderboard.

Yesterday's Top 11 after el jumpo (why, 11? I'm gonna go with, because it's 1 louder. Among other less obvious reasons)

1	FanSince1993	93.4
2	theHERD	79.2
3	BudVugger	72.8
4	stephenapp	67.8
5	dannijd	67.6
6	topherstarr	67.6
7	mentholmoose	66.5
8	whv3rd	61.2
9	Magowan	59.4
10	AshburnAllie	57.0
11	Cormican	53.8

Roy Halladay Bobblehead Saga! - Zoo With Roy

2012-05-25T13:44:12Z

Roy Halladay Bobblehead Saga! - Zoo With Roy

I didn't have a chance to post anything about this yesterday, but in the unlikely event you missed this, go peep Zoo With Roy for the story about the worst bobblehead in the history of bobbing for things.