Isn't It Grand?
Ryan Howard hit a grand slam last night in a 6-1 victory over the Cardinals.
It was his second slam of the season.
It was the fourth slam of the season for the Phillies.
The Phillies have been scary good with the bases loaded this season. They are hitting .519 (14 for 27) with three doubles, four homers, 11 walks and 46 RBIs. They also have a .625 on-base percentage and a 1.074 slugging percentage.
To put those numbers into perspective, let’s take a look at the franchise’s single-season records with the bases loaded:
- Average: .410 (59 for 144) in 1976
- At-bats: 211 in 2005
- Hits: 63 in 2005
- Doubles: 11 in 1974 and 2004
- Triples: 4 in 1979
- Home runs: 8 in 1993 and 2005
- RBIs: 165 RBIs in 1976
- Walks: 21 in 1999
- On-base percentage: .419 in 1976
- Slugging percentage: .632 in 1976
Of the 11 walks with the bases loaded this season: Chris Coste, Jimmy Rollins, Matt Stairs and Chase Utley each have walked twice. Greg Dobbs, Jamie Moyer and Shane Victorino also have walked.
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A very encouraging performance last night from Joe Blanton. He allowed four hits, one run and two walks in six innings. He struck out three.
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Todd Zolecki
11 Walks already? Can you break that out?
Keeping my fingers crossed that with Blanton’s true quality start that the rest of the pitching staff follows suit. Loved Wheels comment about Howard getting his Mama’s homecooking and thus hits well in St. Louis.
Boy, that ’76 team could mash.
Cool article Todd. It’s nice to come here and get some different stuff. It’s great when you post links to other sites also.
Howard again shows us what a slugger he is. Michael jack took 18 years to hit 7 slams. Howard has done it in 4+.
Todd, can you clear up what Charlie was talking to the Umps about after Happy Pete’s fly out last night (the one that send the Cardinal’s OF into the wall). I’ve heard he was saying that Feliz should be called out and I’ve heard he was arguing that the ball was dropped and Feliz should have a triple. Which is it? I hope the former as that is the class thing to do. It was a great play and shows how hard some players play this game.
I’m surprise we haven’t heard from Truth lately since Howard is having such a good start. Must be just too excited for words (LOL!)
Nice start from Blanton…although he did get an extra day off. That happened quite a few times last season, where he did better with the extra day due to rain, schedules, etc… Hope that will not be the only time he pitches well! It was encouraging though…he obviously has the ability. Now, it’s a matter of squeezing it outta him every 5 days!
Jenn
http://philliesphollowers.mlblogs.com/
Tim Kurkjian of ESPN made a big fuss over the Phils already having 11 walks with the bases loaded.Because of the WBC and the rainouts, the Phils still haven’t really completed a month of baseball yet. This offense has been exactly what Charlie said it was from the beginning. He told us that most of the players had down-years last year, and that they were capable of hitting much better. Charlie knows hitting. If the starting pitchers ever play up to their potential, like Blanton did yesterday, we could go on a looooong winning streak. GO PHILS!!!!
We’re #1! We’re #1!
Great game! We now have 3 players hitting over 300. And a couple more who are pretty close.
And who could believe that our pitching staff could keep Pujols hitless in 2 games, til his last at-bat?!