Here is my review of the stats for 2008, join me at my website, www.fightinphillies.com all through the offseason for news, and internet broadcasts about your Phillies!

Phillies 2008 Season Review

Rich Baxter - FightinPhillies.com

 

The Phillies capped off the 2008 season with a great World Series win, 4 games to 1 over the Tampa Rays this year. They got their by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 in the division series and then trouncing the LA Dodgers 4-1 in the NLCS. The Phillies goal this year was to improve upon their poor showing in 2007's division series when they got shut down 3-0 by the Colorado Rockies. They really did a great job in improving; you can't get much better than a World Series win!

Here is a recap of the regular season in 2008 for the Phillies. The team drew 3.4 million fans to the ballpark this year in 2008 and it was more than in 2007 when the Phils drew 3.1 million fans to a ballgame at Citizens Bank Park. It has been five seasons since the Citizens Bank Park Phillies stadium has opened and already the Phillies have had 15.1 million fans come through the turnstiles to see a baseball game.

The game of baseball is great for compiling stats, there are so many games, and so many stats to keep track of, it becomes a joy for anyone who likes to look at streaks, batting averages, and any other stat that you can think of.  Here are some stats of the 2008 Phillies regular season:

1.       Total team at bats: 5509 (10^th in NL)

2.       Total team hits: 1407  (10^th in NL)

3.       Total Runs Scored: 799  (2^nd in NL)

4.       Average age for the 2008 Phillies: 30.1

5.       Total Team Doubles: 291 (9^th in NL)

6.       Total Team Triples: 36 (4^th in NL)

7.       Total Team HR's: 214 (1^st in NL) - one more homerun this year than 2007

8.       Total Team Walks: 586 (5^th in NL)

9.       Team Batting Average:  .255 (10^th in NL)

10.    Team Slugging Pct.: .438 (2^nd in NL)

11.    Team Hit by Pitch:  67 (3^rd in NL ) down from 90 in 2007 (1^st in NL)

12.   Team Stolen Bases: 136 (3^rd in NL)

 

 

  The Pitching team stats are very interesting, the offense carried this team most of the regular season in combination with good pitching. I wouldn't call it a 'great' year for Phillies pitching in 2008 as told by these team pitching stats for the regular season:

 

1.       Team ERA:  3.89 (4^th in NL)      in 2007  4.73 (13^th in NL)

2.       Team Wins:  92 (2nd in NL)

3.       Team Losses:  70 (15^th in NL)

4.       Complete Games:  4 (5^th in NL)

5.       Team Hits Given Up:  1444 (9^th in NL)

6.       Team Runs Given Up: 680 (3^rd in NL)

7.       Team Home Runs Given Up:  160 (6^th in NL)        in 2007:   198 (12^th in NL)

8.       Average Pitchers Age:  30.6

9.        Srikeouts:  1081  (11^th in NL)

10.   Saves:  47  (2^nd in NL)   in  2007 42  (6^th NL)

 

The last stat in the team pitching I feel is the most important, an increase in saves to 47 from last year's total of 42. That's an increase of 5 games more that were successfully saved for a win for the Phillies in 2008 over last year. It was by no means a dominating year for Phillies pitchers. There was no 20 game winner. Jamie Moyer had the highest amount of wins at 16 followed by Cole Hamels at 14. Hamels and Moyer pitched in 33 games each to lead the team in that category. Moyer actually had 3 fewer losses than Hamels who had 10 losses for the Phillies in the regular season.  Hamels and Moyer shadowed one another for the top pitching billing for the team. Moyer pitched about 30 less innings than Hamels and  Moyer gave up 8 fewer homeruns than Hamels did with Hamels total at 28 homeruns given up. Hamels had more strikeouts at 196 to Moyer's 123. Moyer hit 11 batters and Hamels only hit one batter during the regular season. The stats for Moyer and Hamels are really close for the regular season. Moyer is 45 years old and Hamels only 24 in 2008, so Jamie really gave the Phillies all he had this year and nearly was the best Phillies pitcher for the regular season.

 

The next group of stats I'll talk about is the individual player's stats for the Phillies regular season in 2008 in baseball it's the numbers that make you great, here's some of them:

Batting Average:  .293  Victorino   -  Chase Utley just missed  .292

On Base Percentage:  .380  -Utley

Slugging PCT:  .543  -Howard

Games :  162  -Howard

At Bats:  610  -Howard

Runs:  113  -Utley

Hits:  177  -Utley

Homeruns:  48  -Howard

Double:  41  -Utley

Triples:  9  -Rollins

Singles:  115 - Victorino

Walks:  102  - Burrell

Extra Base Hits:  78  -Howard and Utley

Hit By Pitch:  27  -Utley

Sacrifice Hits:  12  -Moyer

Intentional Walks:  17  -Howard

 

Here are some individual Phillies regular season pitching stats leaders to ponder:

ERA:  3.09  -Hamels

Wins:  16  -Moyer

Win/Loss Pct:  .696 -Moyer

Complete Games:  2  -Hamels and Myers

Shut Outs:  2  - Hamels

Saves:  41 - Lidge

Strikeouts to Walks ratio:  3.70  -Hamels

Strikeouts:  196  - Hamels

 

Final standings for the Phillies regular season in the NL East 2008-

              92-70  .568       Home  48-33   Road - 44-37    finished 3.0 games ahead of NY Mets

So, all in all a very successful year for the team, it's the second World Championship of the franchise which started in 1883. The first coming 28 years ago in 1980, I am proud to have witnessed both of them! I am looking forward to a great 2009 season.

                                            Richard Baxter   -  FightinPhillies.com

  

          Thanks to www.baseball-reference.com for the stats I quoted in this post!

                 BR is one of my favorite stops on the internet to read about baseball.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

The World Series victory is just days old, but even those short precious days can't stop the winds of change that continually blow in a professional baseball team. The Phillies declined to have Tom Gordon and So Taguchi on the club next year. Don't feel too bad for Gordon, he'll be getting a $1,000,000 buyout to not play for the team! So much for a golden parachute.


The Phillies also seem to have appointed Assistant GM, Ruben Amaro, Jr., to the post of GM according to the Philadelphia Daily News, Paul Hagen. This is being reported on Philly.com as a fact. So here comes the change that is inevitable to a team. Mike Arbuckle, who has been with the team for many years and made plenty of great player acquisitions, was in a two man race for the GM job but appearently lost out to Amaro who I remember played for the Phillies but wasn't a real stand out player. His father also played and coached for the Phillies, so the 'keep it in the family' style of baseball rolls right along.


Time will tell what a Amaro GM legacy will bring to the ballclub. I can't say anything but 'Good luck, and bring us another championship!' and please a little sooner than the 28 year drought from 1980 to 2008.


The Phils will have to wield a big check book this year, they've made millions and now they will have to spend millions with Howard, Hamels, and do you give a little extra to Jimmy for good measure here too? Look for that hotdog and soda to go up again to help pay for all of this! I want to see what happens with ticket prices, now that the Phillies have the whole area under their spell. We may have to pony up with our checkbooks too!



The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY will have a nice display of the Phillies Championship 2008 season ready by November 14, 2008 and remember any of us that have a ticket to the induction day of 2008 for the Hall of Fame gets free admission to the Hall just by bringing your ticket stub! Cole Hamels Game 5 jersey will be there, and some other cool items. Read more about this here.



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Rich Baxter - Fightin Phillies Blog