Welcome to November weary Phillies fans! We now enter a month filled with Holiday shopping, stuffing one’s pie hole (preferably with whole pies), and that one downbeat Guns ‘N Roses song.
So to avoid that cold November Rain, tuck in, and let’s talk about the best Phillies hitters in the month of November.
Now, there are very few games that the Phillies have actually played in November. In fact, there are only 3 games that they’ve played that have started in November. All of which are from the 2009 World Series.
From that roster, there are 3 candidates for the title of “Best November Hitter”. We’ll work our way from number 3 until we hit the very best November has to offer, in terms of Phillies hitting.
Raul Ibañez
Raul had a terrible start to his November with an 0 for 5 stretch. Number 29 gets on this list for what he did in games 5 and 6 of the World Series.
In game 5, Raul contributed with 2 RBI off of a single and a solo home run. Phillies went on to win the game 8-6. He lined a deep shot off of Phil Coke in the 7th inning for his only World Series home run.
In game 6, Raul did his best to try to get to game 7. He recorded 2 doubles on the night and a walk. The doubles came against one borderline Hall of Famer and one certified Hall of Famer: Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera.
Despite being in scoring position twice, Raul didn’t score or drive in a run in game 6.
All told, Ibañez slashed .333/.385/.750 in 4 November games.
Carlos Ruiz
There was zero chance that Chase Utley wasn’t going to be number 1 on this list. However, reviewing the time of day for Carlos Ruiz’s last at bat in game 3 meant I had to add a home run to Ruiz’s November line.
His 9th inning home run against Phil Hughes came at around 12:20 EST, making it the first November hit for a Philadelphia Phillie.
Game 4 was relatively quiet for the Phillies catcher as he only recorded a walk and went 0/3. Game 5 wasn’t much different as he went 1/4 at the dish. He did record an RBI on a groundout to score Jayson Werth.
Game 6 was a big night for the backstop. Chooch went 2-2 with a triple and 2 walks.
Overall, Chooch slashed .400/.538/.900 in the month of November.
Chase Utley
If you chose to remember anything about the 2009 World Series, it was most likely Chase “The Man” Utley’s herculean effort at the plate. Hitting 5 home runs in a World Series is just utterly ridiculous. It wouldn’t have surprised anyone if they had given him the WS MVP.
There had been precedent for it, as Bobby Richardson won the WS MVP in 1960 when the Pirates won over the Yankees.
Anyway, back to November. Three of Utley’s 5 homers came in the month of November, 1 in game 4 and 2 in game 5.
An 0-3 game 6 made this closer between him and Ruiz than I had originally thought. But of course, Utley’s slugging % blew Ruiz away. Overall, he slashed .400/.500./1.400.
With a 1.900 OPS, it might be safe to call Chase Utley the King of November.
Photo by Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire
