I just finished looking over some of the past Phillies articles we'd
linked to (and this one on Lehman Brothers; nothing to do with
baseball, I know, but it's an eye-opening read on why the investment
banking business model is no longer viable). In an Aug. 22 article,
Bill Conlin, of the Philadelphia Daily News, noted that the Phillies,
while mostly solid with their pitching staff, were playing too many
games in which their bats were going missing. This was the one dark
cloud in Conlin's otherwise cheerful forecast of an eventual Mets
collapse and Phillies triumph.

Since that time, the two clubs have both played their predicted parts,
and the Phillies find themselves one game out of the NL East lead with
a couple of weeks left in the season. I can see from the numbers,
however, that the club's offense throughout the season hasn't been
nearly as bad and the pitching nearly as good as advertised in
Conlin's article. But in the home stretch, both units are coming to
life, adding more pressure on the already wobbly, division-leading
Mets.

The ratings

With two wins in a doubleheader on Sunday to complete a series sweep
of the Brewers, the Phillies returned to the top 10 in our season
rankings after a hiatus stretching back to June. As of today, they're
ranked ahead of the Mets, but they're still well back of the league-
leading teams in the AL. You can see that the team has performed
better overall and on the road than they have at home. That gap was
much larger earlier in the season, but a run of recent home series
wins has closed it considerably.
Seasonal ratings - Philadelphia Phillies

The pitchers

Scott Eyre, picked up from the Cubs in August, has posted strong if
abbreviated numbers in the Phillies' bullpen. There aren't any real
issues with team closer, Brad Lidge, and of the three relievers who've
kept their total runs per out numbers down, J.C. Romero has been the
most vulnerable to pure outcomes, and is probably a pitcher to worry
about in close situations. After that, Philadelphia is in the same
boat as almost every other team: no real bullpen depth.
Runs per out - New York Mets (pitchers)

Cole Hamels, the staff ace, ranks 59th among all pitchers for total
runs per out. Kyle Kendrick, meanwhile, seems to have pitched himself
out of the starting rotation. If so, the Phillies will have to go to
one of their younger call ups at some point in the next two weeks. As
far as the rest of the rotation goes -- Brett Myers, Jamie Moyer, and
Joe Blanton -- they've had fair but not overly impressive seasons,
and, apart from Moyer, haven't pitched well enough on the road. But,
if the Phillies get the NL East title, they won't have to worry about
starting a playoff series on the road until they actually win one.

The batters

As you can see from this chart, the Phillies get their runs in
bunches, courtesy of four guys in their lineup who are all in the top
50 for runs produced per out through pure outcomes. There aren't a lot
of teams that can apply that kind of hurt at so many spots in their
lineup -- in fact, there aren't any.

I found this article from www.playerrs.com