To have a pitching rotation that includes Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay (who is a Cy Young winner and also known as the ace), Roy Oswalt (who has the fifth-best winning percentage of any right-handed pitcher in the live-ball era), Cole Hamels (who is a World Series MVP), and Joe Blanton is a pretty damn good rotation. This group combined has six for 20 win seasons, thirteen all-star game appearances and three Cy Young Awards. If you ask me that’s an awesome combination to have on one team. It’s The Fantastic Four plus Joe to make this rotation one of the best of all time.
Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels and Lee each had a WAR (wins above replacement) of 4.3 or better this past season, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Only three teams in history have ever had four starters do that in the same year. All four of the Phillies starters hit 130 or better this past season. The Phillies now have 3 of the top ten pitchers in strikeout-walk ratio to where no other team has more than one.
On February 14 the Phillies were set in Clearwater, Florida to start their spring training. I like to say they started on Valentines Day because Cliff Lee looks pretty darn good in red <3.
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