Wednesday, July 4, 2012

1997 Circa #170 Mark Leiter

Mets 11, Phillies 1
Game 82 - Tuesday Night, July 3rd in Flushing
Record - 36-46, 5th Place

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies lost in convincing fashion to the Mets, 11-1.

What It Means:  The Phillies are in the midst of a season-high six game losing streak, in which they've been outscored 41-18.  During these six awful games, the offense is hitting .250 while the pitchers have a 7.20 ERA.  By comparison, Phillies opponents are hitting .313 and the opposing team's pitchers have a 2.83 ERA.  They have not been ten games under .500 since July 22, 2002.  Crap.

What Went Wrong:  Pretty much everything.  Other than a Carlos Ruiz solo home run in the second, the Phillies managed just two singles.  Vance Worley allowed six runs on ten hits in his four innings of work.  The trio of pitchers that followed him (Raul Valdes, Brian Sanches and Jake Diekman) just threw fuel on the fire.

Featured Card:  I'm not going to lie to you.  It's bad folks.  My comparison of this season to the woeful 1997 season a few days ago drew quite a few passionate responses, which is to be expected from a Phillies fan base that has come to expect much more from their team.  Until this losing streak is over, I may just continue to post cards of members of that '97 squad.

Mark Leiter went 10-17 with a 5.67 ERA for the 1997 Phillies, finishing second in wins on the club behind Curt Schilling's 17.  The Phils better win this afternoon or so help me I'm pulling out a Calvin Maduro card.

1 comment:

Jim from Downingtown said...

In 1983, the Phillies fired their manager after 85 games, while the team was in FIRST place. (just sayin')