Is the Phantastic Phour as Scary as You Think?

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

At their Christmas event yesterday, the Mets also answered questions about the Phillies starting rotation. Here are some quotes, courtesy of MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo.

“They obviously are going to be a formidable opponent now.” – Terry Collins

“They’ve got four legitimate aces on that staff. It’s pick your poison with those guys.” – David Wright

“On paper, it’s pretty formidable.” – Sandy Alderson

“It’s going to be fun, man.” – Carlos Beltran

Should the Mets be scared at the Phillies rotation? Let’s look at the stats to see how have each of the hitters in the Mets lineup fared against R2C2 in their careers thus far.

Josh Thole

Catcher Josh Thole

vs. Roy Halladay – 9 AB, 6 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .667 AVG

vs. Roy Oswalt – 3 AB, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .000 AVG

Overall – 12 AB, 6 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .500 AVG

Ike Davis

First Baseman Ike Davis

vs. Roy Halladay – 12 AB, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .250 AVG

vs. Roy Oswalt – 3 AB, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .000 AVG

vs. Cole Hamels – 5 AB, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .400 AVG

Overall – 20 AB, 5 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .250 AVG

Daniel Murphy

Second Baseman Daniel Murphy

vs. Cliff Lee – 3 AB, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .333 AVG

vs. Roy Oswalt – 6 AB, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .167 AVG

vs. Cole Hamels – 3 AB, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .333 AVG

Overall – 12 AB, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .250 AVG

Luis Castillo

Second Baseman Luis Castillo

vs. Roy Halladay – 10 AB, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .100 AVG

vs. Cliff Lee – 17 AB, 4 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .235 AVG

vs. Roy Oswalt – 22 AB, 5 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .227 AVG

vs. Cole Hamels – 13 AB, 5 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .385 AVG

Overall – 62 AB, 15 H, 5 BB, 0 HR, 6 RBI, .242 AVG

Jose Reyes and David Wright

Shortstop Jose Reyes

vs. Roy Halladay – 19 AB, 8 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .421 AVG

vs. Roy Oswalt – 32 AB, 9 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .281 AVG

vs. Cole Hamels – 32 AB, 8 H, 3 BB, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .250 AVG

Overall – 83 AB, 25 H, 4 BB, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .301 AVG

Third Baseman David Wright

vs. Roy Halladay – 15 AB, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .133 AVG

vs. Roy Oswalt – 23 AB, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .174 AVG

vs. Cole Hamels – 35 AB, 11 H, 1 BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI, .314 AVG

Overall – 73 AB, 17 H, 1 BB, 2 HR, 7 RBI, .233 AVG

Angel Pagan

Right Fielder Angel Pagan

vs. Roy Halladay – 15 AB, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .200 AVG

vs. Cliff Lee – 3 AB, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .333 AVG

vs. Roy Oswalt – 8 AB, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .125 AVG

vs. Cole Hamels – 28 AB, 8 H, 1 BB, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .286 AVG

Overall – 54 AB, 13 H, 1 BB, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .241 AVG

Carlos Beltran

Center Fielder Carlos Beltran

vs. Roy Halladay – 38 AB, 12 H, 3 BB, 2 HR, 9 RBI, .316 AVG

vs. Cliff Lee – 4 AB, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .000 AVG

vs. Roy Oswalt – 24 AB, 9 H, 2 BB, 1 HR, 7 RBI, .375 AVG

vs. Cole Hamels – 31 AB, 10 H, 2 BB, 3 HR, 5 RBI, .323 AVG

Overall – 97 AB, 31 H, 9 BB, 6 HR, 21 RBI, .320 AVG

Jason Bay

Left Fielder Jason Bay

vs. Roy Halladay – 21 AB, 6 H, 1 BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI, .286 AVG

vs. Cliff Lee – 7 AB, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .429 AVG

vs. Roy Oswalt – 31 AB, 11 H, 3 BB, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .355 AVG

vs. Cole Hamels – 4 AB, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .500 AVG

Overall – 63 AB, 22 H, 5 BB, 2 HR, 11 RBI, .349 AVG

Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, and Hamels

Overall vs Roy Halladay – 139 AB, 41 H, 6 BB, 4 HR, 18 RBI, .294 AVG

Overall vs Cliff Lee – 34 AB, 9 H, 4 BB, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .265 AVG

Overall vs Roy Oswalt – 152 AB, 40 H, 7 BB, 1 HR, 17 RBI, .263 AVG

Overall vs Cole Hamels – 151 AB, 47 H, 9 BB, 6 HR, 21 RBI, .311 AVG

Overall vs R2C2 – 476 AB, 87 H, 26 BB, 13 HR, 58 RBI, .288 AVG

The .288 AVG isn’t too shabby, but I’d expect more RBI with an AVG like that. What’s great about these four pitchers is their ability to leave runners in scoring position. If Dave Hudgens can find a way to get the team to convert in those situations, something the team hasn’t done in the past several seasons, the Mets can pull out some wins from this elite rotation.

It surprises me that the Mets hitters are least effective against Roy Oswalt and that they have a .294 AVG against Roy Halladay. Since the Mets have had such a great right handed lineup since Hamels MLB debut, I can understand why they are hitting .311 as a team against him. The sample size is too small to judge how the Mets can handle Cliff Lee.