So the Phillies Have Some Pretty Good Pitchers

But you don’t need me to tell you that. Everyone knows.

Everyone doesn’t know, however, just how incredible some of their 2011 season accomplishments actually are. So if you like baseball trivia, or things that make you say “holy shit,” then consider the following facts:

• The Phillies starters led in just about every statistic last year: Wins, IP, Quality Starts, WHIP, K/9, BB/9, K/BB, ERA, FIP, xFIP, tERA, SIERA, fWAR, rWAR, WPA, and a bunch of other fancy-sounding acronyms.
• The rotation posted a collective 77 FIP- (Fielding Independent Pitching, adjusted for league and ballpark), the best of all time.
• The Phils had three starters (Doc, Lee, Hamels) with a K/BB ratio of 4 or greater last season. That’s only been done one other time, ever.
• The team pitched 60 games in which they allowed one walk or less, good for fourth-best over the last decade.
• The starters pitched 32 games in which they posted a Game Score of 75 or more (next closest was the Rays, at 24).
• The starters collectively completed 18 games. League average was 6.
• Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Worley, and Oswalt all had an ERA+ above 100, making the Phillies the only NL team to have all 5 starters do so.
• The starters put together 55 games in which they struck out at least 6 and walked no more than 1. This is the most ever, the next closest being the 2010 Phillies with 45.
• The starting rotation compiled 29 games in which they pitched at least 8 innings and allowed 1 earned run or less. League average was 12.
• They had 72 games in which they starting pitcher threw more than 70 strikes. This ranks—surprise, surprise—first of all time.
• Lee’s six shutouts were the most since Randy Johnson threw the same amount in 1998.
• Four starters had an ERA+ of 125 or higher—the most in Phillies history.
• The rotation led the league with 38 no-walk outings.
• Halladay and Lee combined for 14 complete games, the most between two teammates since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling had 16 in 2000.
• The starters pitched 120 games in which they put up a Game Score of at least 50, easily good enough for first in franchise history.

Pretty good, huh?