2004 Philadelphia Phillies season

The 2004 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 122nd season in the history of the franchise. The Phillies finished in second-place in the National League East with a record of 86–76, ten games behind the Atlanta Braves, and six games behind the NL wild-card champion Houston Astros. The Phillies were managed by their former shortstop Larry Bowa and Gary Varsho, who replaced Bowa on the penultimate day of the season. The Phillies played their first season of home games at Citizens Bank Park, which opened April 12, with the visiting Cincinnati Reds defeating the Phillies, 4–1.

Offseason

November 3, 2003: Billy Wagner was traded by the Houston Astros to the Philadelphia Phillies for Brandon Duckworth, Taylor Buchholz, and Ezequiel Astacio.
January 15, 2004: A. J. Hinch signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Regular season

A season of high expectations due to notable offseason moves was a disappointment, costing manager Larry Bowa his job towards season's end.

Notable transactions

July 30, 2004: Ricky Ledée was traded by the Philadelphia Phillies with Alfredo Simón to the San Francisco Giants for Félix Rodríguez.

Citizens Bank Park

Citizens Bank Park is a 43,647-seat baseball-only stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that opened on April 3, 2004, and hosted its first regular-season baseball game on April 12 of that same year, as the tenants of the facility, the Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 4–1. The ballpark was built to replace the now-demolished Veterans Stadium, and features natural grass and dirt playing field and also features a number of Philadelphia style food stands, including several which serve cheesesteaks, hoagies, and other regional specialties. Behind center field is Ashburn Alley, named after Phillies great center fielder and Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, a walkway featuring restaurants and memorabilia from Phillies history, along with a restaurant/bar and grille called "Harry The K's" named after Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas.

Randy Wolf of the Phillies threw the first pitch at 1:32 PM US EDT on April 12, 2004, to D'Angelo Jiménez of the Reds, who got the park's first hit, a leadoff double. Bobby Abreu of the Phillies hit the first home run, which also served as the franchise's first hit in the club's new home. Reds pitcher Paul Wilson earned the first win in that game and Danny Graves earned the park's first save.
On June 14, 2004, Jim Thome hit his 400th career home run to the left-center field seats at Citizens Bank Park.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Mike Lieberthal	131	476	129	.271	17	61
1B	Jim Thome	143	508	139	.274	42	105
2B	Plácido Polanco	126	503	150	.298	17	55
SS	Jimmy Rollins	154	657	190	.289	14	73
3B	David Bell	143	533	155	.291	18	77
LF	Pat Burrell	127	448	115	.257	24	84
CF	Marlon Byrd	106	346	79	.228	5	33
RF	Bobby Abreu	159	574	173	.301	30	105

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Jason Michaels	115	299	82	.274	10	40
Chase Utley	94	267	71	.266	13	57
Tomás Pérez	86	176	38	.216	6	21
Doug Glanville	87	162	34	.210	2	14
Todd Pratt	45	128	33	.258	3	16
Ricky Ledée	73	123	35	.285	7	26
Shawn Wooten	33	53	9	.170	0	2
Ryan Howard	19	39	11	.282	2	5
Lou Collier	32	36	10	.278	1	4
A. J. Hinch	4	11	2	.182	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Eric Milton	34	201.0	14	6	4.75	161
Brett Myers	32	176.0	11	11	5.52	116
Kevin Millwood	25	141.0	9	6	4.85	125
Randy Wolf	23	136.2	5	8	4.28	89
Vicente Padilla	20	115.1	7	7	4.53	82
Corey Lidle	10	62.1	5	2	3.90	33
Paul Abbott	10	49.0	1	6	6.24	21

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Brian Powell	17	39.1	1	2	5.03	24
Gavin Floyd	6	28.1	2	0	3.49	24
Josh Hancock	4	9.0	0	1	9.00	5

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Billy Wagner	45	4	0	21	2.42	59
Rhéal Cormier	84	4	5	0	3.56	46
Tim Worrell	77	5	6	19	3.68	64
Roberto Hernández	63	3	5	0	4.76	44
Ryan Madson	52	9	3	1	2.34	55
Amaury Telemaco	42	0	2	0	4.31	32
Geoff Geary	33	1	0	0	5.44	30
Todd Jones	27	3	3	1	4.97	22
Félix Rodríguez	23	2	3	1	3.00	28
Elizardo Ramírez	7	0	0	0	4.80	9
Jim Crowell	4	0	0	0	3.00	1