The New Strategy

The Phillies aren't doing so well. It's time for a new strategy. If we're going to lose, why not do it in spectacular fashion? I have no ideas for what we can do as far as scoring runs- so let's focus on the pitching.
Yesterday the Phillies used Papelbon and Giles, their two best relievers, in a game they trailed by 5 runs and had essentially no chance of winnings. This was "to get them work". My idea is to ensure that they get work in useful opportunities by letting them start games. Teams are more likely to score runs in the first inning than in the second inning, this is due to a team trotting out their best hitters 1,2,3,4. In games we send out pitchers such as O'Sullivan, we should give them a head start by erasing their best hitters before they get a chance to tee off on our starters. There is an excellent chart which shows when runs are most often scored.


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If we can reduce the % of runs scored in the first by using either Papelbon or Giles, and save one for the 9th inning we can maybe expect to reduce total scoring by 10% or so. Possibly saving the O'Sullivans from being seen more than once can increase the likelihood of them being more effective, also they will be less tired and can pitch later into the game. This may reduce the % of runs scored in the middle innings. The only position in which we will suffer is in the 8th inning. At this point we will have lost Giles or Papelbon, so we may see an increase in runs scored here. With our crop of young relievers (Diekman, DeFratus, Araujo, etc.) I'd take my chances with this strategy. I would even consider starting the game with Giles, and bringing in Papelbon the next time the 1,2,3,4 hitters arrive, completely flipping the order of our pitching.
I don't endorse this idea when we have pitchers like Hamels out there, and obviously we couldn't pitch this way every night or else or relievers would get over worked. But as of now they aren't getting enough work and are receiving worthless opportunities. Let's get our pitchers in there while the game is guaranteed to still matter!  Who knows, we might just take a few of them with us.

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