Friday, November 11, 2011

Phillies Pitchers Dominated in Regular Season

In recent posts, I evaluated American League pitching staffs in terms of Pitching Runs Saved (PRS).  Today, I'll take a quick look at the National League.  Table 1 shows just how dominant the Phillies were at run prevention during the regular season.  Based on Runs Saved Above Average (RSAA), they were 49 runs better than the second place Giants (144 versus 95). 

When we take ballparks and fielding support into consideration, the Philadelphia staff looks even better.  They were a whopping 93 PRS better than the Giants (158 versus 65).  Unfortunately, their awesome staff did them no good against the World Champion Cardinals in the playoffs.  The Cardinals staff actually actually cost their team 33 runs during the regular season.  So, they were 191 runs worse than the Phillies!  Who says pitching wins championships?

Table 1: NL Team Pitching Runs Saved, 2011

Team
RSAA
BPR
FRS
PRS
Philadelphia
144
-9
-5
158
San Francisco
95
14
16
65
Atlanta
68
10
15
43
Los Angeles
61
22
1
38
Arizona
11
-35
30
16
Milwaukee
35
7
23
5
Florida
-29
-11
-9
-9
San Diego
62
59
14
-11
Washington
30
3
39
-12
Colorado
-101
-68
-10
-23
Pittsburgh
-39
10
-19
-30
St. Louis
-19
21
-7
-33
New York
-69
22
-58
-33
Chicago
-83
-27
-21
-35
Cincinnati
-47
-13
39
-73
Houston
-123
11
7
-141


Table 2 illustrates why the Phillies team pitching was so good.  They had three of the top four PRS leaders in the league - Roy Halladay (48.7), Cliff Lee (47.2), and Cole Hamels (37.3).  The Cardinals had nobody in the top 10.  Their best pitcher was Chris Carpenter who finished 13th at 12.8.

Table 2: NL Pitching Runs Saved Leaders, 2011


Player
Team
IP
RSAA
BPR
FRS
PRS
Roy Halladay
PHI
233.2
46.4
-1.5
-0.8
48.7
Cliff Lee*
PHI
232.2
44.9
-1.5
-0.8
47.2
Clayton Kershaw*
LAD
233.1
45.4
3.6
0.2
41.6
Cole Hamels*
PHI
216.0
35.2
-1.4
-0.7
37.3
Ian Kennedy
ARI
222.0
33.1
-5.5
4.6
34.0
Tim Lincecum
SFG
217.0
29.7
2.1
2.4
25.2
Ryan Vogelsong
SFG
179.2
23.6
1.7
2.0
19.9
R.A. Dickey
NYM
208.2
14.5
3.2
-8.3
19.6
Matt Cain
SFG
221.2
23.7
2.1
2.4
19.2
Jhoulys Chacin
COL
194.0
5.7
-9.3
-1.3
16.4

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