When the Mets visited Philadelphia earlier this month, Wall Street Journal ran an article that dubbed Citizens Bank Park a “safe haven” for Mets fans:
“If you’re looking for a measure of how far the Mets have fallen these past few years, here’s a new one: Phillies fans, who have a reputation for their rowdy behavior in the stands, don’t even seem to find pleasure in heckling their rivals anymore.”
And
“We don’t really care about them enough to give them a hard time anymore,” said Russell Holman, a 28-year-old sanitation worker from Verona, N.J. “They don’t win often, and even when they do, it doesn’t change anything. They’re not relevant.”
Anyhow, you get the gist and if you desire to read the rest of the article it is linked above.
None of this is surprising to me. It’s going to take a whole lot more than winning this series to change the perception. It’s going to take months of solid, competitive baseball from a Mets team that’s legitimately in contention. Even so, the Phillies will probably be so far ahead in the division that they still might not care.
I’m not really sure I care either. By the time the Mets are really good again the Phillies will probably be on the decline. Matter of fact, I can’t think of any time aside from 07-08 when both teams were really competing against one another for something big. The history of both clubs has peaks and lots of valleys – and the peaks never seem to coincide.
As for the series, 2 of 3 is ideal. 1 of 3 is realistic. Being swept would take all of the good feelings from the 6-game win streak away. Time to find out what this team is made of during a brutal stretch in the schedule that starts Friday.
April 29, 2011 at 3:50 pm |
[...] to point out, that although he is getting one serious dose of the silent treatment, Tom’s earlier post is sad but true. However, if things continue to improve in Metland the Phillies will start to [...]