Phillie Killers: The 2007 Offense

by David S. Cohen on Nov 30, 2007 11:50 AM EST in News

We hear our announcers talk about them all the time. They come to CBP and destroy the Phils. They're that rare breed (or, sometimes, not that rare). They're the Phillie Killers.

The Phillie Killer who comes immediately to my mind is Brad Wilkerson. Other than his 2002 stats (1.130 OPS against the Phils), I'm not so sure the numbers bear it out, but it seemed that when he was with the Expos (remember them?), he clobbered the Phillies on a regular basis. It's probably all because I was sitting 20 rows behind home plate during this game when Jose Mesa blew a 1-0 shutout by giving up a 2-out, 2-strike 2-run home run to Wilkerson in the top of the ninth. Memories like that die hard.

But who are the real Phillie Killers? Not the ones that we remember because we happened to be present at a bad game. Not the ones that our CRAP-influenced announcers tell us over and over kill the Phils. Who are the guys who truly mash the Phillies?

In this first piece, I'm looking just at hitters in 2007. To come up with the Phillie killers, I didn't simply take the guys who had the best performances against the Phils. After all, if Albert Pujols plays the Phils and clobbers them, he's just being Albert Pujols; he's not really doing anything special against the Phils. So, I looked at the players who had the biggest differentials between their overall 2007 performance and their performance against the Phillies.

Using this method, we get our number 3 Phillie killer, Omar Vizquel, who had a 1.044 OPS against the Phils. That ranks 17th among major leaguers with 25 plate appearances against the Phillies last year. But, what makes him the third best Phillie killer is that his regular season OPS was 0.621. He was horrible against the rest of the league, but was great against the Phillies. That's a Phillie killer.

So, with that definition in mind, I give you the 2007 all-Phillie killer offense:

First base: Todd Helton. Helton had a .928 season OPS, but a 1.346 OPS against the Phillies. The component numbers are amazing - he was always on base against the Phils (.531 OBP) and slugged like an all-time great (.815 SLG). He showed off his Phillie killing instinct in the playoffs, as we all remember.

Second base: Craig Biggio. Biggio wasted away for most of the season (.666 OPS), but woke up against the Phils. His .930 OPS against the Phils was his best against any National League team in 2007.

Short stop: Omar Vizquel. Vizquel wouldn't come to mind as a killer of anything in 2007, as he was horrible (.621 OPS). But, against the Phils, he figured out how to get on base and hit for a bit of power, putting up a 1.044 OPS.

Third base: Chipper Jones. Chipper had an MVP-caliber year against everyone (1.029 OPS), but against the Phillies, he was even better. He had a 1.182 OPS and tied with Carlos Beltran and Hanley Ramirez for the most home runs against the Phils in 2007.

Outfield: Eric Byrnes, Milton Bradley, Cory Sullivan. Byrnes, Bradley, and Sullivan all had huge differentials against the Phils in 2007. Byrnes took his .813 season OPS up to 1.292; Bradley went from .947 to 1.396; and Sullivan went from .721 to 1.091. Byrnes and Bradley did it both with their power, slugging .885 and .963 (wow!) respectively. Sullivan did it with his plate discipline, getting on base half the times he faced the Phils.

Catcher: Miguel Olivo. Olivo was pretty mediocre for a catcher in 2007, with a .667 OPS. Against the Phils, he hit to a .838 OPS, including two triples.

Below the fold is the entire list of 2007 hitters with 25 or more plate appearances against the Phils. The last column shows the difference in OPS, and thus, who are the best Phillie Killers.

PLAYER	AB	R	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	2007 OPS	PK OPS
Eric Byrnes	26	9	4	5	0.385	0.407	0.885	1.292	0.813	0.479
Milton Bradley	27	6	4	9	0.370	0.433	0.963	1.396	0.947	0.449
Omar Vizquel	21	4	0	6	0.429	0.520	0.524	1.044	0.621	0.423
Todd Helton	27	5	2	7	0.444	0.531	0.815	1.346	0.928	0.418
Troy Tulowitzki	26	9	2	5	0.423	0.516	0.692	1.208	0.838	0.370
Cory Sullivan	22	4	1	4	0.409	0.500	0.591	1.091	0.721	0.370
Ryan Theriot	21	2	1	2	0.381	0.458	0.571	1.030	0.672	0.358
Albert Pujols	26	9	4	9	0.346	0.455	0.885	1.339	0.997	0.342
Willie Harris	30	5	1	5	0.367	0.441	0.633	1.075	0.741	0.334
Mike Jacobs	52	11	3	8	0.346	0.414	0.692	1.106	0.775	0.331
Carlos Lee	27	4	4	9	0.333	0.379	0.815	1.194	0.882	0.312
Josh Willingham	39	6	3	10	0.308	0.413	0.692	1.105	0.827	0.278
Craig Biggio	25	4	1	3	0.320	0.370	0.560	0.930	0.666	0.264
Carlos Delgado	58	10	4	11	0.328	0.403	0.638	1.041	0.781	0.260
Randy Winn	34	8	1	3	0.353	0.421	0.588	1.009	0.798	0.211
Skip Schumaker	25	6	0	2	0.400	0.464	0.560	1.024	0.816	0.208
Moises Alou	37	8	2	7	0.432	0.500	0.622	1.122	0.916	0.206
Alfredo Amezaga	34	1	0	5	0.324	0.415	0.471	0.885	0.682	0.203
Ray Durham	28	7	2	9	0.250	0.333	0.500	0.833	0.638	0.195
Miguel Olivo	50	4	1	5	0.320	0.358	0.480	0.838	0.667	0.171
Chipper Jones	55	14	6	16	0.309	0.418	0.764	1.182	1.029	0.153
Matt Holliday	28	8	5	9	0.250	0.344	0.821	1.165	1.012	0.153
Edgar Renteria	47	10	3	9	0.362	0.400	0.596	0.996	0.860	0.136
Brian Schneider	43	3	1	11	0.256	0.353	0.442	0.795	0.662	0.133
Alejandro De Aza	27	2	0	3	0.296	0.286	0.407	0.693	0.564	0.129
Rafael Furcal	23	7	0	2	0.348	0.423	0.391	0.814	0.687	0.127
Aaron Miles	29	3	0	2	0.345	0.457	0.345	0.802	0.676	0.126
Miguel Cabrera	71	14	4	10	0.366	0.451	0.634	1.085	0.965	0.120
Brad Hawpe	28	5	1	2	0.357	0.438	0.607	1.045	0.926	0.119
Prince Fielder	24	4	2	6	0.333	0.484	0.625	1.109	1.013	0.096
Juan Pierre	25	4	0	1	0.360	0.360	0.400	0.760	0.685	0.075
Scott Thorman	33	4	1	4	0.273	0.273	0.455	0.727	0.652	0.075
Austin Kearns	66	9	0	6	0.318	0.430	0.409	0.839	0.765	0.074
Adam Dunn	21	4	3	6	0.190	0.333	0.667	1.000	0.940	0.060
Carlos Beltran	72	13	6	15	0.278	0.338	0.597	0.935	0.878	0.057
Freddy Sanchez	26	4	2	9	0.269	0.259	0.577	0.836	0.784	0.052
Lance Berkman	20	5	1	2	0.250	0.483	0.450	0.933	0.896	0.037
Brian McCann	61	5	2	12	0.311	0.333	0.475	0.809	0.772	0.037
Alfonso Soriano	31	5	1	1	0.355	0.412	0.516	0.928	0.897	0.031
David Wright	70	13	5	8	0.286	0.378	0.614	0.992	0.963	0.029
Adrian Gonzalez	27	4	2	6	0.296	0.323	0.556	0.878	0.849	0.029
Brian Giles	23	4	0	2	0.261	0.414	0.391	0.805	0.777	0.028
Pedro Feliz	31	4	2	7	0.258	0.281	0.452	0.733	0.708	0.025
Todd Linden	27	6	0	2	0.259	0.355	0.296	0.651	0.634	0.017
Hanley Ramirez	75	15	6	11	0.307	0.350	0.613	0.963	0.948	0.015
Kevin Kouzmanoff	23	3	1	1	0.261	0.320	0.478	0.798	0.786	0.012
Mike Cameron	25	2	1	2	0.240	0.367	0.400	0.767	0.759	0.008
Nook Logan	31	3	0	0	0.290	0.290	0.355	0.645	0.649	-0.004
J.J. Hardy	32	5	2	7	0.281	0.281	0.500	0.781	0.786	-0.005
Andruw Jones	69	10	2	8	0.261	0.301	0.406	0.707	0.724	-0.017
Jose Reyes	69	9	1	5	0.290	0.424	0.333	0.757	0.775	-0.018
Josh Hamilton	20	3	1	1	0.250	0.400	0.500	0.900	0.922	-0.022
Jesus Flores	22	2	1	6	0.182	0.280	0.364	0.644	0.671	-0.027
Felipe Lopez	64	7	0	5	0.281	0.333	0.297	0.630	0.660	-0.030
Matt Diaz	41	4	1	8	0.317	0.370	0.463	0.833	0.865	-0.032
Paul Lo Duca	61	7	2	9	0.230	0.304	0.344	0.649	0.689	-0.040
Jeff Francoeur	74	11	2	6	0.297	0.303	0.432	0.735	0.782	-0.047
Orlando Hudson	26	2	1	6	0.308	0.296	0.462	0.758	0.817	-0.059
Garrett Atkins	29	4	1	3	0.276	0.344	0.448	0.792	0.853	-0.061
Ronnie Belliard	76	9	2	5	0.263	0.300	0.395	0.695	0.759	-0.064
Derrek Lee	26	7	0	2	0.308	0.379	0.462	0.841	0.913	-0.072
Kelly Johnson	62	9	2	6	0.226	0.338	0.387	0.725	0.831	-0.106
So Taguchi	27	1	0	0	0.259	0.310	0.296	0.607	0.718	-0.111
Ryan Church	55	5	1	6	0.236	0.333	0.364	0.697	0.813	-0.116
Cody Ross	37	6	3	7	0.270	0.325	0.622	0.947	1.064	-0.117
Dan Uggla	69	11	3	7	0.188	0.291	0.391	0.682	0.805	-0.123
Mark Teixeira	35	5	3	8	0.200	0.282	0.514	0.796	0.963	-0.167
Yunel Escobar	30	4	0	0	0.233	0.324	0.333	0.657	0.837	-0.180
Ryan Zimmerman	75	8	0	2	0.213	0.272	0.320	0.592	0.788	-0.196
Aramis Ramirez	26	3	1	5	0.231	0.286	0.423	0.709	0.915	-0.206
Jeremy Hermida	48	3	1	5	0.229	0.302	0.354	0.656	0.870	-0.214
Luis Castillo	24	3	0	1	0.208	0.296	0.208	0.505	0.721	-0.216
Alex Gonzalez	22	2	1	3	0.136	0.208	0.364	0.572	0.793	-0.221
Brandon Phillips	23	2	0	3	0.261	0.333	0.261	0.594	0.816	-0.222
Dmitri Young	48	5	2	7	0.229	0.269	0.375	0.644	0.869	-0.225
Khalil Greene	30	2	0	0	0.233	0.233	0.300	0.533	0.759	-0.226
Shawn Green	40	3	0	2	0.175	0.292	0.250	0.542	0.782	-0.240

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Comments

Mesa-Wilkerson game

Was that a day game?

by taco pal on Nov 30, 2007 2:36 PM EST reply actions

Re: Mesa-Wilkerson game

Yes, it was a day game, and it's funny D Cohen was there behind the plate, because I was there with dajafi and mrs. dajafi and we were standing on the concourse behind home for the ninth b/c it looked like the game was about to be over and we wanted to beat a pretty big crowd out the turnstiles. I wonder how many regulars here still feel physical pain from that game?

by The Navigator on Nov 30, 2007 3:38 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Mesa-Wilkerson game

I remember it too then.

by taco pal on Nov 30, 2007 3:45 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Mesa-Wilkerson game

Interesting - based on memory, I would have said a night game. I can't find a source telling me when it started though. It was the July 4 game, so a day game on a non-work day was possible, but only 12,000 people attended, which is small for a daygame.

by David S. Cohen on Nov 30, 2007 3:53 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Mesa-Wilkerson game

OK, I finally found proof (other than everyone's memory) that it was a daygame. From the Baseball Reference box score (not Retrosheet, not ESPN, not Baseball Almanac), we have this tidbit:

Weather: 96° F, Wind 9mph out to Centerfield, Sunny.

Logic tells me it wasn't 96 degrees and sunny for a nighttime start.

by David S. Cohen on Nov 30, 2007 9:11 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Mesa-Wilkerson game

It was really hot that afternoon--that much, I remember well.

The fact that it was an afternoon holiday and so few people were there was kind of creepy.

by dajafi on Dec 1, 2007 2:29 AM EST up reply actions

Re: Mesa-Wilkerson game

That was so freakin' bad. My wife (then-girlfriend) still detests Mesa based on that memory alone... of course she doesn't follow as closely as I do, so her 2003 and 2007 pain was second-hand.

The fact that for years I misremembered Wilkerson's blow as coming from new Met Schneider doesn't really ease the pain, or explain why every single year I call for the Phils to sign or trade for Wilkerson. Including this one. It's not rational; I can't help myself.

by dajafi on Nov 30, 2007 7:39 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Mesa-Wilkerson game

Clearly I was wrong about the big crowd. I guess we just wanted to be ready to leave ASAP. Or maybe we were trying to get out of the sun and under the stands.

by The Navigator on Dec 1, 2007 12:03 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Phillie Killers: The 2007 Offense

Surely if we included some sort of weighting factor like Leverage and we included the NLDS, Kaz Matsui would merit no worse than an honorable mention at 2B.

by The Navigator on Nov 30, 2007 3:41 PM EST reply actions

Re: Phillie Killers: The 2007 Offense

If you're factoring in leverage, may I suggest Mr. Jeff Conine. He still scared me with the Mets this year, though his powers seem to have faded.

Speaking of Mets-based PKs, Mike Piazza is an all-timer.

As is Vlad Guererro. There's never been anyone I was happier to see depart the NL.

by dajafi on Nov 30, 2007 7:41 PM EST up reply actions

Well, for career achievement, Brian Schneider

has to be at catcher. I bet the Mets traded for him just to play him for 18 games against us. I'd be interested in finding out the all timers among actives (but not interested enough to do the work). The Phillie-Killers that come to mind are always the unworthy or just plain annoying -- like Marcus Frickin' Giles, Jeff Conine, Juan Pierre...

by Chris R on Nov 30, 2007 3:52 PM EST reply actions

Re: Well, for career achievement, Brian Schneider

Next week's post!

by David S. Cohen on Nov 30, 2007 3:54 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Well, for career achievement, Brian Schneider

Back in the day, Mitch Webster used to kill us like nobody's business.

by taco pal on Nov 30, 2007 9:21 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Phillie Killers: The 2007 Offense

An equally good if not better way to weight would be by how often they faced us - I mean, in only six games it's rather a small sample size, but for division rivals, we faced you 19 or 20 times, and if you seriously ramped up your game across that whole stretch, then, whoa: you really hate us, or the sight of red pinstripes is like visual HGH to you, or you have pictures of our pitchers doing naughty things.

In that case, the people who used their Phillie Killing powers to the greatest effect would be [trumpet blare]: Mike Jacobs and Carlos Delgado (who were once traded for each other). Both were taken from league average to Pujolstastic by the sight of Philadelphia hurlers and they proved it all season long, over 52 and 58 ABs respectively.

My recommendation: sign Mike Jacobs immediately to caddy for Ruiz. He can even go third-string behind Coste, spell Howard occasionally and pinch hit a bit. For that matter, he can rot on the bench - for that is the only place the man is kept safely when he enters CBP.

by The Navigator on Nov 30, 2007 3:56 PM EST reply actions