New Stat Shows Phillies' Don Mattingly Trusts His Guys More Than Rob Thomson

(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)

After what was one of the most disappointing starts in Major League Baseball, and perhaps the most disappointing outside of the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies have really figured some things out over the past two weeks or so.

We have to give credit to Don Mattingly and the players on the roster for responding after Dave Dombrowski let go of Rob Thomson, a decision that initially caught some heat. Now sitting in second place in the National League East, the Phillies are 7-3 over their last 10, have won two straight, and are 19-22 overall.

A lot of that is because of what they've been able to do on both sides of the baseball, obviously, but the pitching has been excellent recently and deserves a lot of the credit. In fact, there are even some crazy stats that suggest that the Phillies are doing something a lot differently than they typically did under Thomson.

“It was a much-needed reprieve for the Phillies’ bullpen, which covered 13 2/3 innings (including a spotless inning from position player Garrett Stubbs) of the Phillies’ previous 29 innings as the rotation struggled. Sunday’s win marked just the third time all season a Phillies starting pitcher has gone seven or more innings; Sánchez has done so twice (including eight Tuesday), and Jesus Luzardo has gone seven innings once…

“The Phillies, searching for starting pitching length all season, seemingly found it in Don Mattingly’s first week and a half as interim manager when Luzardo went seven innings, and Sánchez quickly topped it with eight,” Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic wrote.

Having two guys go seven-plus innings in Mattingly's first week and a half as the skipper is a very promising sign, and shows that he's trusting his guys to get out of tough spots if they're in them.