Wednesday, October 26, 2011

2011 Chachi #62 Strikeout Leaders - Cliff Lee & Roy Halladay

Over the upcoming cruel, long winter, I'll map out in my head the team's 2012 opening day roster and I'll undoubtedly re-hash what went wrong in the division series against the Cardinals.  The ice cold offense in Games 2 through 5 is perhaps the biggest reason why the team didn't advance to face-off against the Brewers in the N.L.C.S., but Cliff Lee's inability to hold a four-run lead in Game 2 stings even more than Ryan Howard's disappearing act at the plate.

In the months ahead, Lee's poor postseason performance will continue to overshadow the wonderful regular season he enjoyed.

Lee and Roy Halladay's strikeout totals were the most for a Phillies pitcher since Curt Schilling struck out exactly 300 in 1998.  Had Cole Hamels struck out just six more batters, the Lee-Halladay-Hamels trio would have become the first trio in Phillies history with over 200 strikeouts in a season.  As it is, Halladay and Lee become the third duo to reach the 200-K plateau.  Jim Bunning (268) and Chris Short (237) did it in 1965 and Halladay (219) and Hamels (211) did it in 2010.

Here's the 2011 top ten:

1.  Cliff Lee - 238
2.  Roy Halladay - 220
3.  Cole Hamels - 194
4.  Vance Worley - 119
5.  Roy Oswalt - 93
7.  Ryan Madson - 62
8.  Kyle Kendrick - 59
9.  Michael Stutes - 58
10.  David Herndon - 39

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