Spring Training Cat Fight: Mets vs Phillies

If I didn’t have a functioning brain capable of independent thought I would probably believe by now that the Mets or the Phillies were the only 2 teams in the NL East capable of winning a division title. If you went by the drivel coughed up by several national writers that shall remain nameless, you would be under the impression that the Mets were somehow stacked with power and pitching, while the Phillies were destined to repeat an underwhelming division title that came about 2 decades after their most recent division victory.  Sure the Mets managed to reel in Johan Santana, but he only pitches once every 5 days and might post an OPS similar to the ancient Moises Alou.  Their pitching depth beyond Santana is pretty much non-existent, unless good old Pedro Martinez can find his way back onto a baseball field without having to take a DL break every third start.  The same can be said for the Phillies, who will get a solid start from Cole Hamels about once a week, and then they’ll turn the ball over to a few guys whose names I can’t readily remember.  The Phillies do have some good hitters, but they never should have won the division title in 2007, and I don’t think they really qualify as a perennial contender just yet.

What I’m really saying is that after nearly 2 decades of being absolutely dominated by the Braves, the Mets and the Phillies are acting like giddy school girls just because they each took home a division title over the past 2 seasons.  Last time I checked the running tally is something like Mets 1, Phillies 1, Braves 1 million, but if you look around the internet, all you see is headlines about how the Mets have their “swagger” back, and how the Phillies have a “psychological edge”.  Jimmie Rollins recently took a time out from staring at his MVP trophy long enough to guarantee the Phillies a 100 win season, while Carlos Beltran took his eyes off of his man-crush Johan Santana just long enough to tell reporters that his team was the one to beat this year.  I know the Mets are still licking their wounds after a 17 game collapse in September of last year that saw them go from 7 games up on the Phillies to falling out of wild card contention, and the Phillies are trying to convince themselves that lightning can strike twice, but if we want to look at this from a sane perspective, we have to admit that both teams have been about as fear-inspiring as Cookie Monster.  It reminds me of watching George Dubya Bush grinning ear to ear in front of his over-sized “Mission Accomplished” banner.  I’ve got news for ya’ fellas, you’re setting yourselves up for some major embarrassment.  Talk all you want now while the warm Florida breeze is blowing up your skirts, ’cause when this summer rolls around you still gotta’ face Chipper and company before you can even think about which color panties you’ll be wearing in October.

I  wouldn’t be so adamant about all of this if I felt like the Braves were incapable of contending, but they’ll be a better pitching team than last year and they’ll be a better hitting team than last year, and when you stack them up against either the Phillies or the Mets it’s hard to declare anyone a winner so soon.  Bottom line, there is no one team to beat in the NL East.  The Braves aren’t as dominant as they once were, but no one else in the division has stepped up to take their place, and a single division title does not a dynasty make.  Baseball fans the world over can rest assured that the Mets will choke somewhere along the way, and the Phillies will have to scrap and fight for every win they get, not to mention the fact that the Marlins have more World Series titles over the past decade than all the other NL East teams combined.  There are no gimmies in this division, and my advice to both teams would be to quit with your little school yard cat fight, re-do your makeup and get back to practicing baseball.  This country already has enough prima donnas.