David Wright’s Tack? “Phillies the Team to Beat”
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Mets standout 3rd baseman David Wright recently voiced the observation that the Phillies are “the team to beat” in the NL East. It happens to be true, the previous season’s first place team is always the team that has to be beaten, has to be unseated in the subsequent season. But teams or individuals rarely make such a statement publicly lest they psychologically cast their team as defeatist.
NY Daily News sports writer Mark Feinsand reports Wright’s comments;
“The team to beat in my eyes is the team that won last year,” Wright said. “Philadelphia took care of us last year. They took care of business in the division. Going into this year, we have to take control again of the NL East.”
Quickly however, Feinsand notes that Wright followed up the comment which could have been taken as defeatist with this;
Wright wasn’t prepared to make any such predictions for 2008, but with the Mets adding Santana to their rotation and the Phillies doing very little in terms of changing their roster, the pendulum may have swung back in New York’s favor.
Wright believes that the trade for Santana - who will be formally introduced at a Shea Stadium press conference today - has finally allowed the Mets to put the debacle of last fall behind them and concentrate on the task ahead.
“It allowed us to effectively completely shut the book on ‘07,” Wright said of the deal.
But question remains; What of Wright’s “Phillies — team to beat” comment? It seems obvious that Wright voiced this comment for the same reason that Jimmy Rollins voiced his Phillies — team to beat comment before the 2007 season — to fire up his team. In this case, call it reverse psychology, but Wright apparently sees that something else beside the acquisition needs to be done to help the Mets shake the stigma of their historic collapse, of blowing the 7 game lead they held last season with 17 games to play.
True, he may fire up his team, but the Phillies have too many young arms, legs and bats next to the Met’s pitching staff which, with exception of John Maine and Santana, is aging, creaking and problematic. The Mets possess a powerful lineup on paper, but the Phils, even with the loss of centerfielder Aaron Rowand, may well have more power.
It would seem that Wright is speaking to the Mets’ questionable on-field performance last season in crucial areas which was epitomized by instances of shortstop Jose Reyes lacking hustle in running out in-play batted balls.
But, psychology aside, I’ll stick with the Phillies, Rollins’ 100 wins, the NL East title and more.
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