Phillies: All guts, now some glory too

TV executives and MLB advertisers are trembling at the prospect of a Phillies-Rays World Series. But as much as I and the rest of the Mets fans hate the Phils, you can’t help but admire them. They have scrappy, hungry players with guts that I WISH the Mets had. Rollins, Utley, Victorino and crew hustle and charge their way through each day. Cole Hamels is a big game bulldog. Ok, the rest of the staff doesn’t scare you, but Charlie Manuel holds it together. Brett Myers has gone from starter, to pen and back again just to help the team. Brad Lidge scares you as much as Billy Wagner, but hasn’t blown a save this season.

Hard to believe, but Jose Reyes is inspiring-to OTHER teams. Fox reported last night that after Victorino hit a Grand Slam in the NLDS, he got so excited that the next day there was a picture of him in the paper. Teammates posted the photo on his locker with the inscription, “J Reyes.” That’s obviously a reference to Jose’s “Dancing With The Stars” routine every time Jose homers, triples, doubles, steals a base…you get the idea.

Come to think of it, Billy Wagner used to blast his former Phillie teammates (like Met killer Pat Burrell) for having no fortitude in big spots. Yet, how many World Series have Wagner and Reyes been in with the Mets? None, last time I looked.

Today is a rough day to be a Mets fan. The team that has all the chemistry the Amazin’s don’t will play in the Fall Classic. But for those fans and advertising execs who think the a Phillies and presumably Tampa Bay Series is a downer, you don’t know baseball. The Rays are a young team with a guiding hand in Joe Maddon at the helm. Tampa doesn’t seem to know how good they are-or can be in the future. Maybe the bean counters at FOX and ‘fans’ outside of Florida (if the Rays finish off Boston) and Pennsylvania should embrace a potential Rays-Phillies Series for what it could and should be-a pretty good Series. Good baseball is something Mets fans missed out on the last two weeks or so of the season. They-like their team-should be hungry to witness the game as it should be played.