Game 138: Phils secure series win vs. Braves (90-48)

After nearly a 2 hour rain delay, Vance Worley took the mound for the Phillies and continued his solid season. He again struck out a decent amount of hitters, but also walked more batters than one would like to see. It's very hard to complain about him in any way when he continues to pitch well, and the team continues to win (not read: results are the only thing that matter). It is simply absurd that 4 of the Phillies starters have ERAs significantly below 3.00.

For the remainder of the regular season, I will not seriously berate Manuel for borderline decisions assuming that he just accepts the fact that the Phillies will make the post-season and will be the first seed. I will pretend that his decisions will be impeccable in the playoffs, and that he's just biding his time until they get there. That being said, Michael Stutes has been pitching decent, and has probably been getting better results than he should. His FIP and xFIP are around 4.30 while his SIERA is actually lower than his ERA. I'm not saying Michael Stutes is a terrible pitcher, but his walk rate is pretty high (4.19 BB/9IP). I don't think he should be trusted in close games in the playoffs, unless he is given an extremely short leash. I sincerely hope Manuel uses Madson in high leverage situations, even if it means he pitches before the 9th inning. He can go more than one inning in my opinion, and the playoff schedule usually allows for relievers to be used more heavily than usual.

The Phils go for the sweep tonight on ESPN. Roy Oswalt and Brandon Beachy are the starters.