A Tale of Two Left Fielders

Since Bobby Abreu has been traded, David Dellucci has been getting a lot more playing time in the Phillies outfield. Some of this has come in right field, which was vacated by Abreu, but some of Dellucci's starts have also come in left field in place of Pat Burrell. Yesterday's game against the Mets was one of Dellucci's starts in left. He ended up hitting a home run and the Phils won, 13-0. This started my thought proccess in two directions. First, who has hit better since Abreu was traded, Burrell or Dellucci? Second, do the Phils have a better record with Burrell in left field or with Dellucci in left field.

First, who is hitting better? Here's what I found:

Pat Burrell: 13 games, 11 started, 43 AB, 3 R, 10 H, 1 HR,
5 RBIs, 6 BB, 11Ks, .233 BA
David Dellucci: 13 games, 10 started, 39 AB, 13 R, 17 H, 4 HR,
9 RBIs, 9 BB, 3 Ks, .436 BA

I think the numbers tell a lot about who's been playing better lately. In virtually the same amount of time, Dellucci has hit for an average 200 points higher than Burrell while scoring 10 more runs and striking out much less. Seeing that would make me think that Burrell should be sitting so Dellucci can play.

What of the question of who contributes more in left field for the Phils? To figure this one out, I looked at each game since the Abreu trade and noted the left and right fielders and the outcome of the game. Here's the results.

Burrell (LF) and Dellucci (RF): 4 wins, 3 losses
Burrell (LF) and Victorino (RF): 2 wins, 2 losses
Dellucci (LF) and Victorino (RF): 2 wins, 1 loss

The results here show more that 1) my ideas don't always have merit and 2) given more playing time for the Dellucci/Victorino combo, my idea might be right. If I was Charlie Manuel right now, I would give it a shot. One thing I didn't mention in the first question was that in the same stretch of time, Victorino is hitting .282 with 11 runs scored. Even that's a good deal better than Burrell.


One last thing that needs to be mentioned is that the Phillies announced that Tom Gordon will miss the next couple of days because of a sore shoulder. Gordon said that he's been pitching with the soreness for a couple of months now. Couple of months, eh? Maybe since July 4th, like I mentioned a couple of days ago. One of my concerns when the Phils signed Gordon was that he's old. This is why I was concerned. Maybe it'll just heal itself with some time off, but if not then the Phils are in trouble because Gordon is still signed for another two years.

2-2, 45 games to go