Sports

The New Best Rivalry in Sports

Forget that tired old “rivalry” in the American League East between the NY Steroidees, I mean Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox. The best rivalry now is between the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies and the NY Mets.

Oh sure, the Sawks and Yanks fans will say they have history on their side, but that’s all they have, history. The Sox are old and trying to retool while the Yanks haven’t been relevant in a decade. They both also need to outspend every other team in Major League Baseball to win anything. The Yankees always have the highest payroll in MLB and the Red Sox had the two highest payrolls of any World Series winner ever. Sorry Sawks fans, you’re just like the Yankees in buying a Championship. Both of those teams are so over. It’s time for some new (bad) blood in baseball and the Phillies and Mets players are jumping in to fill the rivalry void.

It all started before the 2007 season when loudmouth, Jimmy Rollins stated that, “the Phillies are the team to beat.” This was big news since the Phillies hadn’t even been in the playoffs since 1993 and hadn’t won a World Series Championship since 1980. How could he make such a bold (stupid?) prediction when the Mets were the defending NL East Champs and were the favorites to win it again?

Many people, like myself, think he was just trying to motivate his teammates. The Mets scoffed at the quote and basically patted the Phillies on the head like a little brother who wanted to play with the big kids. BUT, then a funny thing happened. The Phillies actually went out and won the NL Eastern Division title over the Mets.

The story became how the Mets choked, but that’s not really how it all happened. Look, I love the fact that the Mets have a choking label, but it wasn’t exactly true about the 2007 season when you look at the numbers. Sure they blew a 7-game lead in the final weeks of the season, but the Phillies did have a little bit to do with that collapse. The Phillies won the season series against the Mets in 2007, 12-6. What’s more impressive is that they won the last 8-games in a row against the Mets in July and August, when the pressure was really on. Hey, maybe that is a choke job by the Mets?

After the 2007 season the Mets went out and got the biggest name on the market, Johan Santana. All the so-called “experts” in the national media proclaimed that the Mets would win the World Series. Obvious steroid-era cheater, Carlos Beltran even chimed in. Playing off of Jimmy Rollins claim from the previous off-season, Beltran proclaimed, “The Mets were now the team to beat.” Not very original, but at least it showed that the Phillies had gotten into the Mets’ heads. And it also showed that these two teams were really starting to work up a genuine dislike of each other…

This was something new since the Phillies and Mets had never finished first and second in the NL East in the same in history. If one team was good, the other team was invariable bad. Now, both teams are good at the same time and the insults are flying. I love it. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the new best rivalry in sports.

The Phillies largely ignored Beltran’s boast and went out and watched the Mets implode again at the end of the 2008 season. It wasn’t nearly as spectacular as the 2007 collapse, but the Mets did have the lead late in the season and coughed it up again. The main reason for the 2008 season failure was the Mets’ bullpen woes. Billy Wagner did get hurt, but he wasn’t good all year. They blew 29 saves last year, while Brad Lidge went a perfect 41-for-41 in save opportunities for the Phillies. The Phillies and Lidge even took that a few steps further and went on to win the World Series. Lidge finished the season a perfect 47-for-47 in save opportunities.

As a result the Mets decided to revamp their bullpen this past off-season. They got JJ Putz from Seattle to be their new set-up man and signed free agent closer, Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez to replace Wagner. So now, K-Rod is puffing out his chest and has proclaimed, “The Mets are the team to beat in the NL East.” Where have I heard that before? The problem is that Rodriguez is the most overrated closer in baseball. Sure he set the record for most saves in a season with 62 last year, but it took him 76-games to do it. Also, his other peripheral stats were not very good. He gave up way too many hits, walks, and runs.  His 77 strike-outs aren’t that impressive.

Maybe he doesn’t deserve that “K-Rod” nickname anymore. I’m thinking it should be changed to “K-Roid”, since he’s obviously another cheater who recently had to stop taking steroids when MLB started testing. Don’t believe me? Then explain to me why everybody acknowledges that he’s lost 5 MPH on his fastball in the last 4-years? MLB started officially testing for Performance Enhancing Drugs in 2004, or 4 years ago. I actually think Putz will be closing games for the Mets by mid-season due to an injury or ineffectiveness from K-Roid.

The Mets have shown a “McNabbian” ability to choke under pressure the last two years, while the Phillies have excelled under the same pressure. The Phillies even upped the ante by winning the World Series. Now the Mets are talking smack about being the team to beat? The national media and the Vegas odds-makers are proclaiming the Mets to be the favorites to win the NL East and possibly the NL Pennant? Exactly what am I missing here?

Whatever happens, it will be nice to see networks like FOX and ESPN acknowledge that there are other teams in MLB other than the Yankees and Red Sox for a change. As a matter of fact, those two teams are even in danger of fading into obscurity, since the Tampa Bay Rays are the defending champs of the AL East. The real interest this year is going to be in the “other” Eastern division. The one in the National League. Like I said, welcome to the new “best rivalry in sports”.

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