How Brett Gardner Became A "Phillie Killer"
Today, we look at the largely one-sided history of longtime Yankee Brett Gardner vs. the Phillies, a team he has raked against throughout his career.
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Entering play on Aug. 17, Brett Gardner currently sits 16th on the Yankees’ all-time leaderboard for most games played, having suited up for the Bronx Bombers 1,648 times. He also sits 16th in runs scored, crossing the plate 931 times so far in his career. Gardner has played in at least 140 games in nine of his 13 completed seasons and is on track, barring injury, to do the same in 2021.
. . . Two weeks before Gardner faced off against (and largely had his way with) Phillies ace Roy Halladay in 2010, the future Hall of Famer pitched the game of his life. On May 29, 2010, against the then-Florida Marlins, Halladay tossed the 20th perfect game in MLB history, striking out 11. It was the second perfect game in Phillies history — the first was thrown by Jim Bunning against the New York Mets on Father’s Day in 1964. Halladay’s perfecto also came exactly 20 days after Dallas Braden achieved perfection for the Oakland Athletics against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Halladay’s perfect game meant that 2010 was the first season in baseball’s Modern Era (since 1900) that featured two perfect games. Two years later, the record was shattered when there were three perfectos in 2012. There has not been one since.
Leading Off
Brett Gardner: Bona Fide Phillie Killer
By Russ Walsh
Seeing Brett Gardner yank a line-drive home run into the cornfield during the Field of Dreams game on Aug. 12 was a refreshing reminder that Gardner does indeed hit well against teams other than the Phillies. You could forgive Phillies fans for thinking he reserves his best for them alone. In a solid 14-year career, played entirely with the New York Yankees, Gardner has slashed .257/.342/.397 with 134 home runs in 5,614 at-bats, entering play on Aug. 17. Decent, but hardly Hall of Fame-type numbers. Against the Phillies, however, Gardner is the second coming of Babe Ruth. In 14 career games before this year, he slashed an amazing .386/.460/.750 with four home runs in just 44 at-bats. In four games in 2021, he has continued the onslaught.
This is an admittedly small sample size, but his performance against Philadelphia qualifies him a bona fide Phillie Killer. Gardner has some distinguished company on the Phillie Killer list. Other solid, but not spectacular players who saved their best for the Phillies include the Marlins’ Jeff Conine (.287/.363/.487 with 14 home runs), the Giants’ Bill Mueller (345/.417/.537), the Braves’ Matt Diaz (.316/.353/.529 with eight home runs) and the Rockies’ Ryan Spilborghs (.419/.463/.649). This list ignores some more traditional Phillie Killers like the Braves’ Freddie Freeman or the Mets’ Michael Conforto, who hammer other teams regularly as well.
Gardner made his debut against the Phillies as a pinch-hitter on May 23, 2009. Facing reliever Ryan Madson, he lashed an eighth-inning double to left field in a game the Yankees eventually won, 5-4. The next day he got his first start against the Phillies, going 1-for-4 as the Phillies prevailed, 4-3, behind Cole Hamels. In the 2009 Yankees-Phillies World Series, Phils pitchers managed to hold Gardner to 0-for-10 in the five games in which he appeared.
On June 15, 2010, Gardner went 2-for-3 with a triple, a single, a walk, and two runs batted in against Roy Halladay, in a game the Yankees won, 8-3, behind CC Sabathia. Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick shut Gardner down in the next two games, as Gardner went 0-for-6 and the Phillies won both contests.
The Yankees and Gardner did not face the Phillies again until 2015. That year, Gardner firmly established his Phillie Killer credentials. In three games at Yankee Stadium, Gardner collected seven hits, two home runs, a double, five RBIs, and six runs scored. In the June 22 game alone, he went 4-for-4 with a home run, while driving in three and scoring two more. In 2018, Gardner went 1-for-4 with a run scored in a 4-2 Yankees win at Citizens Bank Park on June 25, but was 0-for-3 against Zach Eflin two days later in the only other Yankees-Phillies matchup that year.
Gardner returned to Phillie Killer form in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He started in three of the four games the Yankees and Phillies played at Citizens Bank Park that year. On August 3, he homered off of Jake Arrieta in a 6-3 Yankees win. On Aug. 5, he homered again, this time off of Zack Wheeler, and had two hits, two RBIs and scored two runs as the Yankees fell, 11-7, in the first game of a doubleheader. On Aug. 6, he had two more hits in a 5-4 loss.
Gardner’s Phillie Killer status extends even to Spring Training. In March 2021 in Tampa, he smashed a grand slam off of Wheeler. In four regular-season games this season against the Phillies, Gardner has homered, tripled, driven in two, and scored three. The home run was an atypical Gardner blast; instead of sneaking over the wall in dead right, this one went to deep right-center field off of Aaron Nola.
So historically, while all other opponents can expect Gardner to get a hit every four at-bats or so against them, the Phillies must brace for a Gardner hit nearly twice in every five at-bats. While other teams can expect Gardner to homer about once every 42 at-bats, the Phillies can expect a dinger once in every 11 at-bats, a Ruthian pace.
What makes Gardner such a terror against the Phillies? Small sample size is certainly an important part of the explanation. If Gardner played more against the Phillies, his statistics would in all probability skew closer to the mean. Short right-field porches in both Yankee Stadium and Citizens Bank Park may explain some of the power numbers, but Gardner plays half his games at Yankee Stadium and does not put up these numbers against other teams. Maybe it can all be put down to the revenge of Jerry Gardner, Brett’s dad, who toiled in the outfield for four years in the 1970s in the Phillies’ Minor League system without advancing above Double-A Reading.
The most likely explanation is that in baseball, the wonderful, the weird, and the anomalous happen all the time. How else to explain that a career .267 hitter like Dave Concepcion hit .391 against the great Tom Seaver? Or that the short list of players who have hit four home runs in a game includes Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays, and Mike Schmidt, and a guy named Scooter Gennett? Or that an unheralded rookie left-hander making his first start in the Major Leagues, like Tyler Gilbert, could throw a no-hitter against one of the best offensive teams in the league?
When Gardner faces the Phillies, the baseball gods take note and smile down upon him.
Russ Walsh is a retired teacher, current writer for the SABR BioProject and SABR GamesProject, and lifelong Phillies fan with a particular interest in the history of baseball and the oddities that occur on the baseball diamond. He blogs at The Faith of a Phillies Fan. His twitter handle is @faithofaphilli1.
Cleaning Up
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Extra Innings: Some Gardner vs. Phils Highlights
March 7, 2021: Grand slam off of Zack Wheeler
June 22, 2015: Three-run homer off of Kevin Correia
June 23, 2015: Solo homer off of Sean O’Sullivan