In the midst of all this whining by the Mets about Utley's take-out slide Friday night, it is simply amazing that it has taken that team this long to figure out that the Phillies play hard, aggressive baseball. Instead, the Mets keep whining about retaliation. I guess Mets' fans can be happy their team is showing some kind of spunk, even if it is misplaced and even if the message is being delivered in a soft mumble by David Wright.
When I realized last night that the Mets broadcast was also on TV, I clicked to see what the (usually arrogant) NY reaction was. Good timing: Wilson Valdez was just sliding hard into second to break up a double play. Clean, hard slide was the verdict from Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling. Just like Utley's the night before. They continued talking about how slides like that used to be the norm in baseball. Gary Cohen then queried if the Phillies always played like that or just against the Mets. The question boggled my mind but maybe baseball starts and stops with the Mets for Cohen. Ron Darling, however, immediately answered, Yes, they do, he said, I've seen lots of their games and that's how they play. He then added that, much as the Mets might not like to hear it, it would behoove the Mets to watch how the Phillies play and learn from it. After last night's game, however, many Mets players and NY media members were still whining.
Yesterday, Chase Utley had this to say to Todd Zolecki at zozone.mlblogs.com/: "I have never ever attempted to break up a double play with the intent to injure someone," he told MLB.com. "I understand what it's like to be taken out. I've been kicked, kneed, elbowed, spiked and even flipped upside down. And as much as I might not have liked it at the time, I understand that it's all part of being a Major League second baesman. Second basemen have had to deal with this for over 100 years. And with that said, we as a team play the game hard and play it to win. That is not going to change."
