So the Sox aren't playing the best baseball, mainly a function of their luck turning bad with runners in scoring position, but they remain just a half-game out of first place and on track for a playoff spot. The Phillies, meanwhile, have the best record in baseball (though most non-Phillies fans agree this is a function of playing in a vastly inferior league) and though the Big Four haven't quite turned out as expected (which actually was expected, I think), their pitching remains top notch.
Here are how the rivals rank so far this season in all of baseball:
Runs per game
- 1st, BOS, 5.31
- 18th, PHI, 4.05
OPS
- 1st, BOS, .799
- 21st, PHI, .693
wRC+
- 1st, BOS, 119
- 21st, PHI, 91
Runs (allowed) per game
- 1st, PHI, 3.25
- 15th, BOS, 4.21
WHIP
- 3rd, PHI, 1.19
- 9th, BOS, 1.28
FIP- (Fielding Independent Pitching, with below 100 better than average)
- 1st, PHI, 82
- 10th, BOS, 98
They've certainly taken different paths this season. The Sox have the best offense in baseball while the Phillies have the best pitching staff. On the other hand, the Sox have league-average pitching, but the Phillies' offense has been among the worst in the game.
Not that we should pick a Sox sweep or anything; after all, they should certainly have taken two of three from San Diego and Pittsburgh, not the other way around. But give these two teams a seven-game series, and I'd like the Sox' chances.
Tonight is the marquee matchup of the series: Josh Beckett vs. Cliff Lee. So comment away!
8 replies on “World Series Matchup? Sox-Phils Gamer I”
Bad start, let’s go Sox.
It’s been more of a Big Three situation in Philly, but oh, what a three! It doesn’t have quite the youth of Oakland’s trio, but I daresay it’s even more dominant.
Crap.
Crap again, 0-5. Lee is tough, working on 28 consecutive scoreless innings.
World Series matchup? The Yankees weren’t playing the Phillies. So no.
This team is a mess right now. Thankfully there’s a lot of time left to get a healthier rotation and perhaps a RF replacement. Also I think we are actually seeing the value of Carl Crawford via his absence, if that makes any sense. He’s far better than the crap the Sox are putting out right now, on every level, and dramatically so even through his struggles.
Right now this team, as it is sent out every day, is a mediocre third place squad. Bad rotation, weak outfield, a star-filled core and not much else. Ugly, ugly, ugly.
I love how we get all pissy when our teams lose…we’re due for an ALCS matchup.
i know i’m going off on the DH discussion again, which would only be the 1000th time we’ve had it, but it absolutely stinks that the AL is saddled with the NL version of the rules when we play inter-league in their parks…we have to sit one of our better hitters in favor of letting a guy hit who’s maybe never even held a bat…what’s worse is that they are subjecting him to possible injury by making him do stuff that he’s not accustomed to doing…and then, when the games are played in an AL park, the the NL benefits further by taking out one of their worst hitters and substituting a guy that at least has some idea of what to do with a bat…despite that the AL has dominated this series…i don’t get it…
dc: put it this way – the NL gets to bench their worst hitter in our parks, and we have to bench our best hitter in their parks.
It’s fucking nonsense.