Finding A Way To Embrace The Collapse

By Matt Himelfarb
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2007

If you follow the travel itineraries of your average Mets fan, you will find a great deal of them heading towards a place called Citizens Bank Park. Citizens Bank Park offers those who know Shea stadium as second home commodities they would never otherwise receive; accessible restrooms, excellent food, seats that do not make you bend your neck towards home plate upon each and every pitch, etc.

Yet, while I am one of those fans who can enjoy those precious things without having to stomp all over the ballpark as though we own the place, I nevertheless pay a fee for being a Mets fan in Phillies' territory. That is the competitive atmosphere. and the need, visibly clear from the fans' expressions, for bragging rights. To me, the fact that these facets play in a Mets-Phillies ballgame, I always found baffling, if not stifling -- Mets-Phillies? In my opinion, the quasi-rivalry always started and ended with the geographical proximity.

Which leads me to my point. A few weeks back, when fans contemplating how to “Embrace the Collapse” (in the words of fellow professor Joe Janish) many found solace in a few possibilities:

A) Willie Randolph would be ousted as the team’s manager.

B) Tom Glavine’s meltdown in the final game of the season would ignite a “Steinbrennerish” (if there were such a word) reaction in the Mets' inner workings, leading him to depart without any second thoughts.

C) We played the role of the underdog for all of one game.

I found the greatest antidote in knowing one fact: the Mets-Phillies rivalry just shot up 10,000 points.

Of course, it does not and never will have the tenacity of, or live up to the expectations of, the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Unlike the developing Mets-Phillies rivalry, the most recent fist fights and great ballgames that the Yankees and Red Sox will continue to endure will be considered, not necessarily a part of Yankees or Red Sox nation history, but rather a new chapter in the rivalry itself.

Needless to say, however, the new Mets-Phillies rivalry is an amazing story in itself, because we are witnessing the creation of a new chapter in Mets history. Back in the day when an “East” and “West” division was the standard way of dividing the American and National leagues, the St. Louis Cardinals were the Mets' chief rival. During the brief period in the late 1990’s when the Mets were seemingly destined for dominance, the Metropolitans and the Braves continuously clashed in suspenseful, drawn-out games, albeit usually ending in the latter’s favor.

But the Mets-Phillies rivalry goes beyond the fact that, with the Phillies 2007 divisional title, they are now of equal competition with the Mets. Like the Yankees were lead by the Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettite, Paul O’Neill gang of predominantly home-grown players, both the Mets and Phillies have adopted their own identity, and in effect, many of their players have a reason for the opposing fans to hate them. David Wright’s charisma and all-star performance at such a young age draws eerie comparisons to Chase Utley; Phillies fans have finally warmed to Pat Burrell’s long underrated performance with his second-half surge this past year, and he remains the ideal Mets villain; Ryan Howard, Ryan Madson, and Brett Myers are all products of the Phillies' system. Last but not least, we cannot forget Jimmy Rollins’ or Cole Hamels' disparaging yet sometimes awfully true comments about the Mets, or the old feuds between current Phillies players and Wagner.

And, to paraphrase our old friend Larry Lucchino, the hands of each evil empire extend beyond the major leagues. The increased competition for Australian players' services (Scott Mitchinson and Brad Harman were both top Aussie signings for the Phillies) is just one component of, in a more benign sense, an arms race between both ball clubs when it comes to accumulating young talent. Since Omar Minaya took over as general manager in 2005, the Mets have taken swift control of the Latin American pipeline, resulting in the signings of Fernando Martinez, Deolis Guerra, Francisco Pena, and Wilmer Flores to six- and seven-figure bonuses. With the hiring of former Tampa Bay Devil Rays' GM Chuck LaMar as director of professional scouting, the Phillies now seem poised to improve upon a below-average system barren with offensive talent. LaMar, despite his less-than-stellar record when it came to free agent and trade acquisitions, is largely responsible for the Devil Rays' current depth of young talent, and played an integral role in the heralded draft of 2004, in which the Devil Rays drafted Jeff Nieman (1st round), Reid Brignac (2nd round), Wade Davis (3th round), Jacob McGee (5th round) and Andy Sonnastine (10th round.)

Mets-Phillies: a true rivalry at last!

You can contact matt at: matthimelfarb@gmail.com