From Newsday

More Fightin' Words Between Mets, Phillies

BY DAVID LENNON
david.lennon@newsday.com

February 22, 2008

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- With all of this early trash-talking between Carlos Beltran and Jimmy Rollins, as well as the Mets and Phillies, it's starting to sound as if these two teams are vying for the WBO title rather than the National League East crown.

In one corner, we have Beltran, who playfully jabbed at Rollins last weekend when he proclaimed the Mets the "team to beat" this season. It wasn't personal, Beltran reminded everyone yesterday - just business.

And after Rollins, from Clearwater, called the Mets centerfielder a "plagiarist" on Wednesday for copying his boast of a year ago, Beltran stood firm.

"I have nothing against Jimmy," Beltran said. "He plays hard, he does his job, he's always hustling. Philly found a way to play better at the end and they won the division. But this year is going to be different."

Those are strong words from someone like Beltran, who in three years has kept relatively quiet for a $119-million superstar. But the way he has been perceived by the Phillies on the other side of the state has set up the makings of a Jerry Springer show when the teams meet for the first time April 8 at Shea Stadium.

Rollins doesn't have much to be angry about. He's the reigning National League MVP and seems to have a lot of fun with this stuff. But according to a report by ESPN's Jayson Stark, a few of Rollins' Philly teammates have been privately fuming about Beltran's comments and even suggested to Stark that "there will be a brawl this year."

When those remarks were relayed to Beltran, he replied, "We'll see what happens there."

That's when the fun is put away and the fists come out. Looking back over the games between the teams last year, there did not appear to be any hot spots or simmering feuds. But what had been détente between New York and Philly is now approaching DefCon 4, and no one on either side is blinking.

"I have all the respect in the world for those guys," Billy Wagner said. "I don't have any ill will against them. But if they want to come out and fight, then bring it on. That's their prerogative -- fine. I'm too old to be worrying about fighting somebody. I'm having enough trouble getting somebody out as it is.

"If one of their little 25-year-olds wants to come out and whip my ass, they can brag that they whipped a 37-year-old man's ass. Well, good for them. It's always good to play that underdog role.

"If they come out there, though, there's two things that could happen. I'm pretty sure they're going to whip my ass. But what if I get a shot in? What if? Then you just got your ass whipped on national TV by the littlest guy in baseball, so think of that 'What if?'"

It was Wagner's way of trying to defuse the matter by injecting some humor into his bravado, but he's not one to back down. And now that the Phillies are on the verge of replacing the Braves as Public Enemy No. 1 at Shea, even manager Willie Randolph is looking forward to the fireworks.

When a reporter told Randolph that the Phillies could be itching for a brawl this season, the manager loved it.

"Is that right? That's what I'm talking about," Randolph said. "I didn't hear that and I didn't see that, but that's how you build a rivalry.

"It's building slowly," he added. "If we stay in the mix for a few years and get into a few fights, stuff like that, then it starts to really grow. But you can't manufacture that no matter what you do. They're good. We're good. We're right up the turnpike from them.

"I hope it really develops. I enjoy it because it gives you that instant incentive to go out and kick someone's butt. And I think we're lacking that in the game. There's not enough of that in baseball. There's too much fraternizing, too much buddy-buddy."

David Wright, who grew up during the Mets' epic clashes with the Braves, has always insisted that Atlanta is his team's natural rival. But he wasn't so sure yesterday in the wake of the Beltran-Rollins exchange and the latest word that the Phillies not only want to beat the Mets but beat them up, too.

"The talking creates that little rivalry," Wright said. "It's fun. The bulletin-board material gets everyone riled up a little bit. Each year, I don't go in holding grudges. Just because Philadelphia beat us, I don't want to fight them. It's something that you've got to win with some dignity and lose with some dignity, and last year, unfortunately, we were on the losing end of that. I thought we handled it pretty professionally as far as giving them the credit they deserved."

And now that the fans are getting into the act with organized efforts to buy out each other's stadiums - Phillies fans at Shea and vice versa at Citizens Bank Park - Wright figures they can throw the punches, not the players.

"We'll let the fans do the trash-talking for us and let the fans take care of business fighting-wise," Wright said. "I'm not condoning it, but it happens."