The Hottest July in Recent Record

By Chris Pollay

It’s a good time to be a Philadelphia Phillies fan.

After all, the defending MLB champions are currently leading the National League East comfortably with a five-game lead. True, they just dropped three of four to the San Francisco Giants, but that was the first series the team has lost since one with the Atlanta Braves that concluded on July 2nd.

The team is only going to get better after recently upgrading its roster, adding 2008 Cy Young Winner Cliff Lee, who only gave up four hits and one run in a complete game, his first outing with the Phils. Also of note, he is 4-0 in his last four starts including three complete games with an ERA of 1.32 in that time.

The future indeed looks secure, especially if the recent past is any indication. The team just finished one of its hottest months of July in recent history, carving out an impressive 20-7 (.741) record.

To put that in perspective, consider this: the last time the Phillies won 20 games in one month was back in May of 2001 when the team went 20-8 (.714).

Last month, the team strung together win streaks of four twice and ten once. They only lost back-to-back games twice during the entire month. In that time, the Phillies outscored opponents by a stunning margin of 153 to 97. Incidentally, that was the most runs scored and fewest runs allowed by the ballclub in any month this year.

In fact, the last time the Phils gave up fewer than 100 runs in an entire month (featuring at least 25 games) was June of 2003.

Philadelphia was so dominant that it outscored its opponents by 56 runs in 27 games for an average of more than two runs a game! It’s amazing what can happen when a baseball team clicks on both offense and defense at the same time.


Everybody Pitching In

As of today, the Phillies’ overall team ERA is at 4.37. However, for the month of July, the team tallied a cumulative 3.22 ERA over the course of 246 innings pitched. Only 88 of the 97 runs given up were earned.

Philadelphia pitched three shoutouts and gave up only two runs or less 14 times (and were 14-0 in those games, not too surprisingly). The best aspect about it all, however, was that it was a complete team effort.

Here are some of the starting pitching performances of the month:

Joe Blanton (3-0): 29.2 IP, 22Ks, 1.21 ERA

Cole Hamels (3-1): 37 IP, 29Ks, 4.38 ERA

J.A. Happ (2-2): 40 IP, 31Ks, 2.93 ERA

Cliff Lee (1-0 as a Philly): 9 IP, 6Ks, 1.0 ERA

Rodrigo Lopez (3-1): 27.1 IP, 17Ks, 3.62 ERA

Jamie Moyer (4-1): 30 IP, 15Ks, 3.3 ERA

The Phillies' hurlers were simply much more consistent than they have been the rest of the year, giving up only 65 walks for the month compared to striking out 190 batters. Although, the team did continue with one of its scary statistics: home runs allowed. The team gave up 27 altogether in July, or an average of one a game.


Hitting on All Cylinders

Of course, a team can give up one home run a game if it manages to outhit its opponents thoroughly.

The team smashed 35 homers in July and 247 hits altogether (91 of which were extra base hits). The team batted a cumulative .259 for the month and hit in double digits eleven different times!

Overall, 145 of the 153 runs the team scored were batted in. The team did continue to strikeout often, though, but did show reasonable patience by earning 116 walks (51 more than their opponents in that time).

Like the Phillies’ pitching last month, the team’s hitting was also a result of contributions from almost everybody. Here’s a breakdown of some of the big numbers:

Jayson Werth: 7 HR, 23 RBIs

Ryan Howard: 6 HR, 18 RBIs

Chase Utley: 6 HR, 18 RBIs

Jimmy Rollins: 4 HR, 19 RBIs

Raul Ibañez: 4 HR, 16 RBIs

Shane Victorino: 3 HR, 14 RBIs

Pedro Feliz: 1 HR, 13 RBIs

One hot month can make all the difference in a pennant race. The Phils were actually tied for first place on July 2nd, but by the end of the month they secured a comfortable six-game lead despite playing 13 straight games at the end of July.

Perhaps the brightest statistic, however, is that the team remembered how to win in its own ballpark, accruing a 14-3 home record for the month, giving them an overall record of 27-25. Their home record was an astonishing 13-22 before the start of July.