NL East Report

An article by Former Writers    5 Comments

Philadelphia Phillies: (12-9; -.5)

The Phillies lost two of three to the San Francisco Giants, and the game that they won is a case to why pitch counts should be taken with a grain of common sense, On Wednesday, the Giants were leading 4-1 in the 9^th with Tim Lincecum (who recorded 11 K’s) still going. Lincecum got the first out in the inning before giving up a walk to Shane Victorino. Lincy was then pulled at 106 pitches for closer Brian Wilson. The usually dependable Wilson loads the bases before OF Eugenio Velez missed a Jayson Werth double and allows everyone to score. The Phillies and Giants trade runs in extras before the Phillies pull out a 7-6 win in 11.

I won’t go too in-depth on the Mets-Phillies series, as that falls in the domain of the Series Preview columnist, but take a look at Saturday’s pitching matchup: Mike Pelfrey vs. Roy Halladay. Also, the Phillies have activated Brad Lidge from the DL.

BTW, this is the first NL East Report since last June in which the Phillies haven’t had the designation “Leader” in their parenthesis.

Washington Nationals: (12-10; -1)

The Nationals took two of three from the Chicago Cubs, and will open a weekend series in Florida against the Marlins. However the most interesting news with the team happened in the minors. Closer-of-the-future prospect and last year’s 10^th overall pick Drew Storen was promoted from AA to AAA, and could easily make the majors this summer if everything goes as planned.

Stephen Strasburg threw 5 no-hit innings in AA, and will likely be promoted to AAA. He could join the big team in a month or so with how much he has dominated in the minors.

Florida Marlins: (11-11; -2)

The Marlins lost two of three to the San Diego Padres, and will face Washington. Not much new.

Atlanta Braves: (8-14; -5)

The weather on this site is so great because of the winning streak, be glad we’re not Brave fans. Atlanta has dropped their last 9 games after being swept in four by St. Louis. The Braves will head to Houston.

Weekly Stat: This is a stat that I’ll be tracking in the last NL East Report of each month. Pythagorean Win/Loss is a stat that uses Runs Scores and Runs Allowed to determine how many games a team is expected to win or lose on paper. Now, as the games are not played on paper, there are variations in what is expected and what happens, this is called Luck.

Disclaimer: This is just for observation purposes as the season progresses. I know that stats will fluctuate wildly as the season goes on. I am by no means saying that the records will actually proceed as expected.