Baseball

Team	Runs Scored	Runs Allowed	Differential
Phillies	451	359	+92
Braves	538	446	+92
Astros	498	421	+77
Giants	474	411	+63
Cardinals	554	495	+59

Makeover

The Phillies' pitching staff, mediocre last year, is this year's strength

During his hiatus from coaching last year Joe Kerrigan worked as a Phillies postgame television analyst, getting what amounted to about 15 minutes of airtime per week. Even in that limited role, however, he developed the same reputation that he had as pitching coach for 10 years with the Expos and the Red Sox: one of the best prepared in his business. He arrived at the ballpark two to three hours before games, watched video and then kept his own pitching charts during the game.

"It's quite a different view from the press box," says Kerrigan, who was hired as Philadelphia's pitching coach last October, seven months after his 43-game stint as Boston manager ended with his firing. "Last season I watched [ Philadelphia] pitchers' mechanics and got a real sense of their strengths and weaknesses."

Under the direction of Kerrigan, the Phillies' staff has become the team's strength this season. The club's ERA has dropped from 4.17 last year to 3.48, second in the NL, through Sunday. That's the main reason Philadelphia held a two-game lead over the Diamondbacks in the National League wild-card race despite a lineup that ranked 13th in the league in hitting. "Before the season all everyone talked about was how great the offense would be [with new first baseman Jim Thome and third baseman David Bell]," says catcher Mike Lieberthal, "but look at how we've been winning."

Indeed, this season the Phillies were 41-2 when leading after six innings and 7-1 in extra-inning games, thanks to a bullpen whose ERA has dropped from 3.96 last year to 2.99, third best in the majors. But it's the young rotation—righthander Kevin Millwood, 28, acquired from the Braves in a December trade, is the team's oldest starter—that has benefited the most from Kerrigan's hands-on instruction. Over the winter he invited pitchers for one-on-one lessons at a facility set up with a pitcher's mound in a warehouse in South Philly.

Watching from the booth last year, Kerrigan noticed that 22-year-old Brett Myers's delivery, which was rushed, jerky and included a wicked leg kick, was affecting his control. This winter Kerrigan revamped the righthander's technique by getting rid of the leg whip and adding a deliberate, hands-over-head windup. "Those two changes have made a huge difference," says Myers, a starter who was 10-6 with a 3.55 ERA and who, Lieberthal says, "has the best stuff on the staff."

Another Philadelphia pitcher who has vastly improved this year is All-Star Randy Wolf (10-5, 3.29 ERA), who since last year's mid-season break had the second-lowest ERA (2.73) among major league lefthanded starters. In spring training Kerrigan worked with Wolf on compacting his delivery and straightening his back leg. "I'm throwing easier, which has calmed me mentally too," says Wolf, who along with Millwood and Myers made up me winningest threesome (30 victories combined) in the league.

Kerrigan has also helped lefthander Rheal Cormier, who had the second-lowest ERA (1.43) among NL relievers, become a dominant setup man. Working with his coach three days a week during the off-season, Cormier began throwing out of a windup for the first time since he became a full-time reliever four years ago. Kerrigan believed Cormier was tipping his pitches last year with the arc of his arm at the start of his motion, and showed Cormier how to cut down that arc during delivery, and also helped him develop an effective slider.

While the Phillies wait for their slumbering bats to awaken, pitching will have to keep them in the playoff picture. "You have to think the offense is going to turn it around," says Wolf, "but as a pitcher you can't count on that. [The pitchers] need to keep doing what we've been doing."