According to Oakland A’s GM, Billy Beane, the ’93 Philadelphia Phillies are what inspired his Sabermetrics approach to baseball.

Beane said

“I was right here in Philadelphia watching the World Series,” Beane told the Philadelphia Inquirer at Friday’s panel on “Moneyball’s Impact on Business and Sports.” “Those ’93 Phillies took a ton of pitches, walked a ton, and scored a ton of runs. That’s when it hit me.”  (Corey Seidman of CSNPhilly.com)

 

Ok, are you as confused as I am?

Let’s go back to the ’93 Phillies.  Most were fat, old guys.  That team consisted of Lenny Dykstra, Darren Daulton, Pete Incaviglia (I’m proud to remember that name before baseball-reference.com became involved), John Kruk, Kevin Stocker, Mickey Morandini and the like.  Most of the team was on their way out of baseball.

It was one of the most ragtag teams ever assembled.  There is no rhyme or reason for their success.  They were a mixture of very young, and very old.

The only player that did not continue on in obscurity was Curt Schilling. (Mike Lieberthal was on the team and is a great Phillies player, but not really known outside of the city.)

I had to check out why Beane would say that and what I found blew my mind.

Here are some comparisons:

For comparison, I took the 1993 Phillies, 2002 Athletics and the 2011 Phillies. (Though the last category was just to see how they compare to their counterparts.)

The ’93 Phillies were clearly the best of the three.  They led in every category, except strike outs (where they came in last.)

The ’93 Phillies knew how to get on base, they knew how to score and they knew how to hit.  That year, they only hit 156 homeruns, two of which were by a pitcher.  They could do all the little things right about how to win a game.

I remember the ’92 Phillies very clearly.  I remember that the most exciting thing that happened that year was the new Red Pinstripes uniforms. I also remember no one expecting anything to happen in 1993.

I remember sitting in the 700 level of Veteran’s Stadium, paying attention to half the game and reading the other half.  I remember, looking at my dad and commenting on how they are all fat. (Seriously, John Kruk was the first baseman.) I remember trying to figure out how they won, and couldn’t.

And now, 19 years later, I know.  Now, I understand what my mind as a 11 year-old could not.  Now I see that they won it on what Billy Beane would be credited with coming up with 9 years later.

Now I see that, as Seidman puts it:

In many ways, the ’93 Phils out-Moneyballed the Moneyballers.

All the statistics came from Baseball-Reference. 

For help with Sabermetrics, check out Around The Horn series on Alphabet Soup.

I, like most of Philadelphia, grew up with a history of losing.  As a child, I would sit in the 700 level of Veterans Stadium reading a book.  I couldn’t care less about the game, for many reasons, but one was because I knew they were going to lose.  They were the Phillies, that’s what they did.  There was Mike Schmidt and everyone else.  Not exactly a lot to root for.

Then there was the ’93 season.  I was in 6^th grade and loved playing softball, so I decided to watch the game that was on the TV every night that there was broadcast.  While I watched the game, my dad, mom and brothers introduced me to the mental side of the game. And I started paying attention.  I no longer fought with my parents or grumbled when we would go to the game as a family.

I also experienced my first taste of agonizing defeat as Joe Carter sent one deep to end the World Series.

However, the downside of that team, was that there was really no one that would attract a young fan.  Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams scared me.  John Kruk claimed not to be an athlete.  Darren Daulton lived on another planet.  No one in the outfield would help with the cause. And, outside of the Curt Schilling, no one on the pitching staff stands out.

After the 1994 lockout, the Phillies were right back to where they belonged, in the cellar of the National League.

Scott Rolen of the Reds playing 3B

Strangely enough, it was 1996 that I started falling in love with baseball.  Not surprisingly, the interest that I had in baseball grew to a full blown fandom when Scott Rolen became the 3^rd baseman.  He was that young, talented, likeable player that a lot of young fans were waiting to show.

I started paying more and more attention to the team then anyone in my family.  By the time I was 16, I was the one that my family and friends went to if they wanted a Phillies stat.  I spent most Sunday’s afternoons hanging out at the Vet, going to the game, and then waiting around for autographs.

Oh yeah, and the Phillies did exactly what was expected of them. They lost.  Time and time again.   I would sit in the stands and root and cheer and know that it was going to end the same way that most of the games that I have attended would end.  I was ok with that.  I loved being there and I loved watching the game.  I just knew the outcome.

» Continue reading “What this season meant to me: A Reflection on the 2011 Phillies”

Its alumni weekend in Philadelphia and at Citizens Bank Park.  And Friday night former Phillies first baseman and current ESPN baseball analyst, John Kruk was the latest inductee to the Phillies Wall-of-Fame.  Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Darren Daulton, and other former Phillies all showed up to be apart of Kruk’s induction ceremony.

Last year’s inductee, Darren Daulton, introduced his former teammate on a stage set up in front of the pitcher’s mound. Kruk’s speech was vintage Kruk, which meant classic Philly. “We killed a lot of brain cells,” Kruk told the crowd. “But you were right there with us and you all killed a bunch too.”  The kicker? How about a message to anyone who gives the city a hard time for its tough fans and their antics.

“To those people I say, ‘You didn’t have the guts to succeed here,’” said Kruk, a .309 hitter with 790 hits in 744 games with the Phillies. - Phillies.com

Click here to watch John Kruk’s speech from Friday’s ceremony.

John Kruk - Phillies.com

With the crowd elated to have their Phils back home and the Kruk celebration, a win over the Nationals would have been perfect.

Yeah well my title says it all.  The Phillies lost!  Could of sworn I stated in my previous post that the Phillies should never take a team too lightly and the Nats are no exception.

Cole Hamels just didn’t have his good stuff, which was painfully obvious after he walked two of the first three batters faced.

He averaged a National League-leading 8.84 baserunners per nine innings before Friday, before allowing six hits and four walks in five innings. He also lacked velocity on his fastball. It averaged just 88.6 mph after averaging 91.4 mph this season, according to MLB.com Gameday’s pitch-f/x. – Phillies.com

Hamels had thrown 88 pitches when Charlie Manuel chose not to send Hamels back on the mound in the sixth inning.

The offense didn’t help either with a total six hits.  And give credit to Washington’s Livan Hernandez who only allowed four hits, one unearned run, and struckout three.

Complete Box Score Phillies/Nationals – 8/12/11 Game

Alumni weekend will also include:

• Saturday is Alumni Night, when more than 45 former players — spanning eight decades — will be introduced on the field, including Carlton, Schmidt and Bunning, starting at 6:30 p.m. ET. Lakewood BlueClaws coach Greg Legg will receive the John Vukovich Award. Vince Vukovich, son of the late Phillies player and coach, will present the award.

• A Harry Kalas statue will be unveiled outside the third-base gate before Sunday afternoon’s game against the Nationals. – Phillies.com

Let’s hope Saturday’s game goes alittle better than Friday’s, but I will be honest, not feeling very confident with Roy Oswalt.  His last outing which happened to be his first since being activated off the disabled list, was the Phillies only loss on a 10-game road trip.

Check out Saturday’s game preview after the jump…

» Continue reading “It Pains Me to Type This…Phillies Lose to Nats”