Mets vs. Phillies needs more juice

First, a disclaimer: I own a pair of Mets sneakers and wear them proudly -- which speaks to my allegiances (sorry, Phils fans), my passion for baseball (probably too great) and my mood at the current moment (not good after that ugly sweep in New York).

So take it for what it's worth when I say that the Mets-Phillies rivalry, if you can even call it that, needs some juice. (Not 'roids but excitement).

For instance, when I was leaving the lovely Shea Stadium after Tuesday's extra-inning Philies win, there was some heated, competitive back-and-forth banter between two passionate sets of fans. Only problem was that it was between Mets and Yankees fans, who engaged in the age-old, never-ending, Who's-the-best-team-in-New-York debate.

Meanwhile, my roommate, in bright red Phillies colors, frolicked around the parking lot, almost daring the home fans to take some kind of action for this Philadelphia intrusion. Now, don't get me wrong: I didn't want my roomate to be mercilessly beaten by a crazy Mets fan (he was, after all, my ride home). But a little "Hey, you're still the worst franchise in sports" wouldn't have hurt as he basked in the glory of his team winning.

Believe me, this is not an indictment on any group of fans. From what I can tell, the Mets and the Phillies both have a passionate fan base -- but, at times, it seems both groups are more eager to trash their own team rather than the other (See, the 10,000-loss countdown as an example -- and many Mets fans have recently adopted the same roof-is-caving-in mentality, as well.)

Granted, it's a long season and the two teams play each other countless teams and the organizations have rarely been good at the same time. But indulging in rivalries and the friendly, and not-so-friendly, banter between fans of teams so closely situated geographically is part of what makes sports great -- and why walking into the Linc with a Giants jersey feels like walking on death row.

Not that baseball will ever evoke the same kind of passioante responses that football does -- but a little more couldn't hurt, right?

One more story from Shea before I sign off: About the third time Jimmy Rollins got to the plate, and the New York faithful let him hear it, a few fans sitting behind me asked me why Rollins kept getting booed. So I told them about Rollins' preseason declaration that the Phillies were the team to beat, to which the fans said something, "well, looks like he shouldn't have said that" before lustily joining in on the chorus of boos.

Looking back on it, the whole scene seemed rather pathetic as a couple of disinterested, uninformed observers latched on to a meaningless quote to get more excited about what was a very good ballgame.

A Mets-Phillies game shouldn't need a Jimmy Rollins sound bite to create a spark. The spark should already by there.

Dave Zeitlin, Staff Writer