Mac Attack: "Locked and Loaded" Edition, Reviewing The Phillies Lineup

Locked and loaded, voices screaming
"Let's go! Come on, do it, here we go!" -Offspring, Hammerhead

The Philadelphia Phillies lineup has not changed much since the postseason. Other than the fond farewell to Pat "The Bat" Burrell, and jolly good welcome to Philadelphia for Raul Ibanez. The Phillies traded offensive stats if you think about. 30 home runs, 90 RBI, and roughly 100 BB for .290-.300 batting average, 200 hits, and 110 RBI.

We will be reviewing the 2008 lineup and previewing the projected 2009 defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies lineup and projected offensive numbers.

So without anymore posturing, let's begin the Attack.

Reviewing 2008's lineup. Each spot varied certain games, and order varied from game to game to spark offense when it would start to slump.

1. Jimmy Rollins

2. Shane Victorino

3. Chase Utley

4. Ryan Howard

5. Pat Burrell

6. Jayson Werth

7. Pedro Feliz/ Greg Dobbs

8. Carlos Ruiz/ Chris Coste

9. Pitchers

Reviewing the Players 2008 season. Offensive numbers only.

1. Jimmy Rollins. The 2007 MVP had sort of an off-season offensively. Benched twice. He hit .277 with 154 hits in 556 at bats. 2007 for Rollins also saw a dip in hits (154), RBI (59), and average (.277). He was injured in the beginning of the season. He did have 47 stolen bases though and was caught stealing only three times.

2. Shane Victorino. The Flyin' Hawaiian had a break out season. Victorino hit .293 with 167 hits in 570 at bats. Victorino who, smashed a grand slam off of C.C. Sabathia during game two of the NLDS, hit 14 home runs during the regular season. Victorino also stole 36 bases and drove in 58 Runs.

3. Chase Utley. Chase got off to a rip-roaring start prior to the All-Star break. After the All-Star game, that same scorching bat practically fell silent. Chase knocked in 33 home runs, and batted .292 for the season. Not much off of his career average of .298. Last season, Chase drove in 104 RBI and scored 113 Runs, while raking 177 hits.

4. Ryan Howard. The "Big Dog" got off to a slow start in March (and April... and May... and June) but picked up his slack and started to hit the ball. Despite hitting .251 and striking out 199 times, Howard managed to crush 48 home runs. As well as drove in 146 RBI and scored 105 Runs. Howard slapped 153 Hits as well as stole a base. In the month of September alone, Howard hit .352 with 11 home runs, two triples, seven doubles, and drove in 32 RBI.

5. Pat Burrell. "Pat the Bat" got off to a blazing start much like Utley did, and carried the team throughout Howard's slow start. Prior to the All-Star game, Burrell hit .275 with 23 home runs, 57 RBI, and slugged .575. After the All-Star break tough, he cooled down much like Utley, a lot. After the All-Star break, Burrell hit .215, with ten home runs, 29 RBI. During the 2008 season, Burrell was in the top ten in walks with 102.

6. Jayson Werth. Werth had a "breakout" season, if you could call it that. He hit .273 with 24 home runs, 20 stolen bases, and slugged .498. Werth was one the four Philadelphia Phillies hitters with 20+ home runs (Utley 33, Howard 48, Burrell 33, Werth 24). Prior to the All-Star break he hit .271 with 12 home runs, and 36 RBI. After the All-Star break, he hit .275 with 12 home runs, and 31 RBI.

7. Pedro Feliz. Another Phillies hitter that got off to a hot start and cooled of, drastically I might add. Prior to the All-Star break: Feliz hit .270 with 12 home runs, and 45 RBI. After the All-Star break it's a different story. After the All-Star break, Feliz hit .189 with two home runs, and only 13 RBI. 2008 season for Feliz: .249, 14 home runs, and 58 RBI.

8. Carlos Ruiz. Ruiz had an off season hitting, while only hitting .219, with four home runs and only 19 RBI. Ruiz came up clutch when it really mattered especially in the playoffs. Prior the All-Star break, Ruiz hit .202 with two home runs and 20 RBI. After the All-Star break, Ruiz picked it up hitting .244 with two home runs and 11 RBI. 2008 Postseason stats: .261 (.375 in the World Series alone), one home run, and four RBI along with one stolen base.

9. Pitchers: (Hamels, Myers, Moyer, Blanton, Kendrick): The Philadelphia Phillies pitchers last season hit .107 combined with Cole Hamels leading in the average category with a steely .224. Next it was Kyle Kendrick batting .100, and so on. Big Boy, Joe Blanton hit his first career home run during Game 4 of the World Series.

10: The Bench. 2008 numbers for Chris Coste (catcher): he hit .263 with nine home runs and 36 RBI. 2008 numbers for Greg Dobbs (utility): he hit .301 with nine home runs, 40 RBI and three stole bases. 2008 numbers for Eric Bruntlett (utility): he hit .217 with two home runs, 15 RBI, and 15 stole bases. 2008 numbers for Geoff Jenkins (outfielder): he hit .249 with nine home runs, 29 RBI and one stolen base. 2008 numbers for Matt Stairs (outfielder):he hit .252 for the season (.294 with the Phillies) with 13 home runs (two with the Phillies), 49 RBI (five RBI with the Phillies) and one stole base. 2008 numbers for So Taguchi (outfielder): he hit .220 with nine RBI and three stole bases.

If you've got a match then we've got the gas
Let's start a fire and have ourselves a blast- Airbourne, Stand Up For Rock And Roll

Team totals for 2008: .255, 214 home runs, 762 RBI, 586 BB, 1117 SO's, 136 SB. Led Majors with 214 home runs. Second in Majors with 762 RBI. Tenth in Majors with a .255 batting average. Seventh in Majors with 1117 strikeouts.

2009 Projected Numbers for the starting lineup according to myself:

1. Jimmy Rollins- .285, 20 HR, 70 RBI, 49 SB

2. Sane Victorino- .291, 15 HR, 65 RBI, 45 SB

3. Chase Utley- .300, 25 HR, 80 RBI

4. Ryan Howard- .275, 53 HR, 152 RBI, 200 SO, 100 BB

5. Jayson Werth- .293, 30 HR, 29 HR, 75 RBI, 21 SB

6. Raul Ibanez- .310, 30 HR, 110 RBI

7. Pedro Feliz- .250, 15 HR, 50 RBI

8. Carlos Ruiz- .275, 13 HR, 56 RBI

9. Cole Hamels- .230, 2 HR, 13 RBI

Bench players projected 2009 numbers

10. Greg Dobbs- .310, 11 HR, 60 RBI

11. Matt Stairs- .263, 11 HR, 40 RBI

12. Eric Bruntlett- .250, 7 HR, 31 RBI

13. Chris Coste- .264, 10 HR, 41 RBI

14. Geoff Jenkins- .270, 11 HR, 30 RBI

Possible bench players prjected 2009 numbers:

15. Ronny Paulino- .267, 5 HR, 30 RBI

16. Lou Marson- .279, 11 HR, 25 RBI

17. Jason Donald- .281, 9 HR, 30 RBI

18. John Mayberry- .275, 11 HR, 20 RBI

Starting Pitchers projected 2009 hitting numbers:

19. Brett Myers- .175, 0 HR, 5 RBI

20. Jamie Moyer- .155, 1 HR, 7 RBI

21. Joe Blanton- .245, 4 HR, 15 RBI

22. Kyle Kendrick- .133, 0 HR, 3 RBI

Possible starting pitchers projected 2009 hitting numbers:

23. J.A. Happ- .133, 0 HR, 5 RBI

24. Chan Ho Park- .137, 0 HR, 5 RBI

25. Carlos Carrasco- .131, 0 HR, 2 RBI