Entering last night's game with the Mets, the second of a four-game series here in Philadelphia, the Phillies bullpen had a league best 2.74 ERA. Without a doubt, the success of the bullpen, led by offseason additions Chad Durbin and Brad Lidge, has been a big part of the team's overall success so far.
A look at the numbers:
Reliever W L ERA IP HR BB SO WHIP B Lidge 2 0 0.77 35 0 15 47 1.03 C Durbin 2 1 1.5 48 1 16 37 1.15 R Madson 1 0 3.05 44.1 3 13 34 1.17 JC Romero 4 2 2.43 33.1 4 24 30 1.5 T Gordon 5 4 5.16 29.2 3 17 26 1.62 C Condrey 1 1 4.32 33.1 4 8 18 1.47 R Seanez 3 3 2.73 26.1 0 16 18 1.48 Total 18 11 2.74 250 15 109 210 1.32
But alas, the bubble may have burst last evening. JC Romero failed to get batters out and Tom Gordon failed to get pitches into catcher Chris Coste's mitt and a Phillies one-run lead in the eighth inning quickly turned into a 9-4 rout.
If you were paying attention to the numbers above, then you know what kind of bubble I am referring to. There are a lot of strikeout to walk ratios by Phillies relievers that don't necessarily support the ERA's they are sporting. In other words, the bullpen, with the exception of a few like Durbin, Lidge and Ryan Madson, are getting by on smoke and mirrors.
Fielding Independent Pitching, or FIP, is an ERA-like measure of how well a pitcher is pitching after the vagaries of batted balls in play are removed from the data, leaving only the components most under a pitcher's control. The Phils pen doesn't fare too well in that regard:
IP FIP FIP-ERA
Lidge 35 1.55 0.78
Durbin 48 2.85 1.35
Madson 44.3 3.21 0.17
Romero 33.3 4.86 2.43
Condrey 33.3 4.05 -0.27
Seanez 26.3 3.46 0.73
Gordon 29.7 4.3 -0.86
If the rumor mill is to be believed, the Phillies along with the Brewers are in the running to acquire C.C. Sabathia from the Indians this month before the non-waiver trade deadline. Getting another horse/starting pitcher might not be a bad idea, because the deeper they can go into games, the less likely Charlie Manuel is going to have to turn to the likes of Romero, Condrey, Seanez, etc.
