Question of the day is whether Phillies batters put up much better numbers against their NL East opponents, the Nats, Mets, Fish and Braves, than they do against everyone else.

The answer of the day is that some do and some don’t. Of the eight regular players from 2009, four have a better career OPS against those NL East teams:

 
Vs WSN, NYM, FLA & ATL
Vs Everyone Else
  AVG OBP SLG OPS AVG OBP SLG OPS
Howard 296 396 629 1.025 265 358 549 906
Ibanez 299 356 565 921 284 346 473 819
Victorino 286 344 438 782 282 349 419 768
Utley 292 385 518 904 298 374 526 900

Big difference for Howard and for Ibanez. Howard’s .629 career slugging over 1,456 plate appearances against the NL East is rather impressive. Ibanez has had just one year with the Phils, but he pounded the division in 2009. Victorino a little better against those NL East teams and Utley about the same.

By OPS, these guys have been worse against the Nats, Mets, Braves and Fish than they have against everyone else over their career:

 
Vs WSN, NYM, FLA & ATL
Vs Everyone Else
  AVG OBP SLG OPS AVG OBP SLG OPS
Werth 262 361 424 785 266 360 488 849
Ruiz 234 323 366 689 256 348 390 738
Feliz 252 296 399 696 254 292 429 721
Rollins 275 331 431 762 274 328 445 773

Werth has been better against teams outside the NL East. His power numbers are notably down against the Nats, Mets, Braves and Fish — he has an extra-base hit about once every 14.6 plate appearances against those teams compared to about one every 10.4 plate appearances against other teams.

The numbers are less dramatic for Rollins, Feliz and Ruiz, but all three of those players have a higher OPS against competition outside of the Braves, Nats, Marlins and Mets.

Cole Hamels got hammered yesterday as the Phils beat the Yankees 9-7. Hamels went four innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits and a walk. Six of the hits went for extra-bases, four doubles, a triple and a home run. The Phillies got four home runs in the game, including a two-run shot by Wilson Valdez in the bottom of the ninth that broke a 7-7 tie and gave the Phils the win. Polanco and Francisco also both hit home runs in the games. Polanco is batting .394 after a 2-for-4 day. David Herndon and Bastardo followed Hamels and each threw two scoreless innings.

Mike Zagurski was sent down. The linked article says, “Only 12 healthy pitchers remain in camp, which means lefthander Antonio Bastardo and Rule 5 pick David Herndon will make the team. The loser of the fifth-starter’s competition between Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick will take a spot as the long man.”

Halladay, Hamels, Blanton, Happ, Moyer, Kendrick, Durbin, Madson, Bastardo, Herndon, Baez, Contreras.

If you don’t feel terrified of that bullpen, you should.

Ruiz and Victorino have been battling a flu.