[Sox Sweep Again]

Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels, Lee.

Palmer, Cuellar, McNally, Dobson? Link.

"...• Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels and Lee each had a WAR of 4.3 or better this past season, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Only three teams in history have had four starters do that in the same year: the 1909 A's (Chief Bender, Eddie Plank, Harry Krause, Cy Morgan), 1967 Reds (Jim Maloney, Gary Nolan, Milt Pappas, Mel Queen) and 1991 Braves (Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Avery, Charlie Leibrandt).

• Or if you want to cite another of our favorite sabermetric stats, adjusted ERA-plus, all four Phillies starters hit 130 or better this past season (meaning they were at least 30 percentage points above league average). In the live-ball era, only two teams have had at least four qualifying starters with ERA-plus numbers that good in the same year: the 1942 Tigers (Hal Newhouser, Virgil Trucks, Al Benton, Tommy Bridges, Hal White) and 1997 Braves (Glavine, Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Denny Neagle).

• Of the top 10 active pitchers in strikeout-walk ratio, the Phillies now employ three of them: Oswalt (fifth), Halladay (seventh) and Lee (10th). No other team has more than one. And oh by the way, if we lower the innings threshold to 900, Hamels would rank above all three of them...

[Hail Cesar]

If all of the starters for the Phillies are healthy all year it's going to be a ridiculous season at CBP. I think that a car will be phlipped and lit on fire after every win for one of the big 4 starters. It's the Philly way.

[BigSlick]

Hail Cesar, on 15 December 2010 - 10:09 AM, said:

If all of the starters for the Phillies are healthy all year it's going to be a ridiculous season at CBP. I think that a car will be phlipped and lit on fire after every win for one of the big 4 starters. It's the Philly way.

A Phillies fan I work with told me this morning that the Phillies are looking to trade with the Giants for Lincecum because they need a 5th starter.

[Mike LansWho]

They should probably just order the t-shirts now - Philadelphia Phillies 2011 World Series Champions. Cancel the season. Let's just forget that all 4 combined were 7-5 throughout the entire postseason this past year.

[MrNewEngland]

If our top 4 all have career years and Dice-K actually becomes the japanese Pedro (remember that?) we will have the top rotation in MLB history.

If.
If.
If.


Gawd I can't wait for Spring Training. I'd settle for truck day.

[rominer]

MrNewEngland, on 15 December 2010 - 11:38 AM, said:

If our top 4 all have career years and Dice-K actually becomes the japanese Pedro (remember that?)

It's weird how you say this as if you have doubts that it will happen.

Stop being a pussy.

[JMDurron]

Yeah, I keep thinking of how we were talking about the 2010 Red Sox rotation a year ago after the Lackey signing, and look how that turned out. Oswalt and Hamels are as likely to do a faceplant as that whole foursome is to be awesome and healthy, together for over 162 games.

[yazgoesbacklooksupitsgone]

Great, the fearsome threesome that lost the NLCS to the giants just added a guy who lost two games in the WS. Ooooooooooh.
Anything can happen. That's why they play the games.

[The Ghost of Ned Martin]

I agree that they should just cancel the season now and not make us waste our time futilely rooting for the Sox to beat them in the World Series. I mean, any team that has both Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia in the starting rotation has to be unbeatable, right? And you know, Cole Hamels has demonstrated that he is a consistent 18-30 game winner and Roy Oswalt has at least 1000 more Innings in him.

And the bullpen? If I need someone coming out of the bullpen with the bases loaded in the 9th inning of World Series Game 7 to protect a slim lead, dammit, I want it to be Brad Lidge.

Done deal. It's over before it even started.

GD Theo should have held onto his prospects and cash until the Omnipotent Foursome retired.

This post has been edited by The Ghost of Ned Martin: 17 December 2010 - 03:46 PM

[rominer]

The Ghost of Ned Martin, on 17 December 2010 - 03:45 PM, said:

I mean, any team that has both Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia in the starting rotation has to be unbeatable, right?

Good call.

[Manny's PS2]

Lee - Elbow problem by 6/1
Hamels = Zito
Halladay - shoulder issue by mid July
Oswalt - back spasms, hindered all year

I thought we were pessimists around here. You have to think negatively, peeps.