The Big 3 Battle: Mets v Phils

By Ken Dynamo
Posted Thursday, July 3, 2008

Despite a half season of disappointment and turmoil, the Mets are bizarrely still a mere 3.5 games back in the standings as I type. So I don't find it inappropriate at all to be writing about how our top three hitters stack up against those of our 'newest' rivals, the Philadelphians of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia has been producing delicious cream cheese for at least my whole life, but they've only been competitive lately in the last 3 or 4 years, which not coincidentally is when their big three, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, all started seeing regular playing time. The same phenomenon (but subtracting the cream cheese and adding sweet sweet bagels) occurred on the other side of Jersey with the Mets and their three big guns, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and David Wright.

Now, how do we measure one set against the other? Certainly not by height, as that would give Ryan Howard and the Phillies an unfair advantage. You could ask a fan, but of course the Met fan would obviously reply that their three were the better ball players, and the Phillie fan would clearly tell you to go have sexual congress with your mother right before stuffing another cheesesteak into his fat stupid face.

In confusing times like this, I like to rely on Win Shares, with thanks to their tireless compilers at The Hardball Times. No, Win Shares aren't perfect, but they are easy to look up, and I am lazy, so there the very important factor of my free time to consider. Win Shares are also handy because they adjust for defensive position and defensive contribution, so they good for comparing players who play different positions at various skill levels. And you can also add them up year by year like other counting stats, unlike time consuming rate stats which require time and effort figure out over multiple year, so once again they are a perfect fit for me and my incredible sloth.

Anyway, lets eschew any more boring drollness and see some easy-to-read numbers!

2008 Cumulative Win Shares
Phils: 32
Mets: 38

Haha! Victory is ours!

Wait, whats that coming from the Phillies fans? You're depressed about your city's steep and continual decline in global cultural relevance and economic stature? Oh. No, that's not what you said. You're saying Howard and Rollins are slumping and and shouldn't be punished by merely looking at half of the season so far?

Fine, we'll go back 3 years and see how the the cumulative scores from the 2005-07 seasons look, to give a fairer picture of expected future performances. Again, not a perfect method, but you get what you pay for with this column on the day before 4th of July Eve. Back to the numbers!

2005-2007 Cumulative Win Shares
Philistines: 228
Mestaculars: 252

Yes! Touchdown Mets!

Wait, I hear more kvetching from the Phillie fans. What's that you say? You're sad that Philadelphia has culinary traditions comparable to a Taco Bell? Oh, no, you're saying that Rollins and Howard both have an MVP and Utley will most likely win one this year, while the Mets have none.

Meh. True, but how much faith can you put in the BBWAA? I'll tell how much, none! You know who you should be trusting? Angry bloggers with obvious axes to grind! So here's my brief rundown of each player, from worst to first, and why the Mets are still champions of this menage-a-trois battle royal.

6) Rollins: Over rated. Even his MVP year wasn't that sweet. Rollins (not to be confused with his equally loudmouthed relative, Henry) piles up the counting stats, however, those stats also includes outs, which Rollins led the league in last year.

5) Howard: His MVP year was legit (58 HRs and a 167 OPS+), but it's been down hill since then. Howard is on pace for an absurd 230 strikeouts this year. I could make a tasteless joke about Howard's size and weight right now, but I will refrain.

4) Reyes: Joseph Kings really turned his career around when he learned how to take walks in 2006, going from merely "exciting" to a bona fide all star. Reyes plans to continue to hone his skills until he is quote 'bery, bery gud.'

3) Beltran: The smooth center fielder could arguably be number one on this list. 'Los is a legit 5-tool player, and my favorite Met, so I'm putting him here so no one claim I'm playing favorites (but that won't stop me from mentioning his 92% SB% over the last two years).

2) Wright: D-Dubs could also could make a strong claim for being best player of the six here, but he wouldn't do that because he's too humble. So once again I'm putting aside my personal prejudices and letting a guy who DIDN'T lead the league last year with Win Shares 34 claim the top stop.

1) Utley: I don't like talking about how the best player on either team is an ephing Phillie, so instead I'll just say that if you combine Chase Utley's first and last name you get Chutley, which sounds like chutney, which I feel is the most under rated of all the sauces.

Before I finish, I think it's also worth mentioning that the Mets average age is 27 while the Phils are collectively 28.6 years young.

So there you have it. Q.E.D. Mets are the champions. Well, of this imaginary debate that I decided as an impartial arbiter, anyway. We'll work on the NL East Champions bit the rest of the year.

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Ken Dynamo writes a blog called GO METS DIE BRAVES that's full of NSFW language. Happy 4th of July!