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In a report for the Daily News, Bill Madden quotes Phillies GM Pat Gillick as saying:
“If you want to know the best thing we had going for us this year, it was the fact that all the other teams in our division hated the Mets’ guts. It started with Atlanta and all the hostility they had with the Mets through the years. Then Fredi Gonzalez left Bobby Cox to manage the Marlins and he didn’t forget everything that went on between the Braves and Mets. Look what Florida did for us the past two years… Washington doesn’t like them very much either, and all those teams seemed to really get up for the Mets.”
This is the same irrational idea that we heard on the final weekend of 2007, when print journalists and talk-show hosts said, ‘Lastings Milledge woke up the Marlins.’ As if Florida had been a great team all season, but 
had been sleep walking and losing, and needed Milledge to wake them up in order for them to realize their potential. Give me a break?
Correct me if I am wrong, but the 1986 Mets won a World Series, not Miss Congeniality, right?
So, does this mean the Mets can now only win if teams love them? What does that even mean?
Seriously, who cares if teams hate the Mets?
Hey, how about the Mets just play better baseball and win on their own effort, and not spend time worrying about what other people think of them. How about that? How about, instead of backing down, the Mets fight back.
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that’s funny … ya know, i’d love to be hated if we could win …
which made 1986 all the more sweeter
Along with the champagne……..just ask Willie
you making this post, matt, is just a reflection of the fact that you and the mets do care what other teams think of them. if you don’t think it’s such a big deal then don’t make it one by giving all the idiots on this website nonsense to argue about
What’s funny to me is that we hate the Mets too.
ha ha ha
After being present at the last game vs. the Marlins in 2007 & 2008, they can’t POSSIBLY hate the Mets as much as I hate the Marlins!
You are 100% right in that the answer is for the Mets to play better baseball. However the fact is that the Phils had a much better record against the Braves,Nats and Fish combined than the Mets did.Is that because those teams hated the mets and p[layed harder or because we didn’t play well? It really doesn’t which it was to me but it is a fact.
That’s not really accurate. The Phillies CRUSHED the Braves and the Mets struggled with them.
The Mets had better records against the Nats and Marlins than the Phillies did.
The Braves didn’t win a single home game against the Phils, while they won all but 1 against the Mets
I think what he means is that the other teams in the NL East took great pride and loved beating the METS more than the Phillies. I would not put it past the Braves or Marlins to NOT play as hard or make that extra effort against the Phillies that they would against the METS. I did hear one of the BRaves players say something like that. But, if the METS had a sack at all, this would all be taken care of on the field. They let these other last place teams kick them around and beat them. They deserve it, until they pull there heads out of that deep dark hole between there legs. Dont settle for anything less than 2 out of three against these teams and go for the throat. Dont let them get in a position to knock you out of the playoffs during the last week. Lets wake up and play good baseball from the start so it dont come down to the last day, for the third year straight.
Matt, seriously, you take a quote from someone not on the Mets, has nothing to do with the Mets, and you turn it around like its some excuse for the Mets. What exactly are you missing here? Is this idea that hard to understand? Is it also that hard to understand that it also could have nothing to do with anything? This isn’t Omar saying this, its Pat Gillick.
how does a quote that talks directly about the Mets have nothing to do with the mets?
exactly, matt: boo hoo, they hate us. so get up and bust them in the ribs. let’s make them hate us even more.
unfortunately, the mets are as soft a team as they come
it’s is huge for a sitting gm to give that kind of quote.
a sitting gm who’s maybe retiring this season…
I don’t mind being hated…but time and time again we back down from it. Look at the Rays this year and they have alot in common with the 86 mets. They got into a number of fights this season, even in spring training. They didn’t take crap from anyone and fought back not to mention also payed great baseball…maybe theres a link there…maybe the idea of coming together to defend your team can provide the unity needed to fight through the tough struggling times.
the 2007, 2008 mets are a bunch of pus sies and i can’t stand it.
Well put starz. This team lacked backbone. This team will continue to lack backbone until they part ways with a large number of players and coaches. We are going to see most of the same people back next year and most likely will see most of the same results from last year as well.
the team lacked backbone or a freakin bullpen who was able to get somebody out?
The New York Mets have “NO… MAARRBLEES” –> movie reference anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
I have often said in the past couple of years that the mets just need to get into one serious brawl… just throw a couple punches, take a couple hits and show everyone including your team mates and fans that you are a part of this team and will do whatever it takes to stand up for the unity that it represents… but no, not this team… in other words, yes I agree with you, the mets are a bunch of ******* and i can’t stand it either…
Major League 2
You win!
The idea that getting into one fight would prove anything, or make this team play any better is quite simply retarded.
Sorry, but it’s the truth.
no its not. Its the idea of coming together…bringing your team together…its the idea that we wont back down from anyone…and that can be translated into we can come back from this deficit or lead. nobody can hold us down. its that aggressive mindset that sparks confidence not worry or second-guessing.
You must have missed what its done for the rays or 86 mets or 04 sox?
im going to have to agree with adro. i want the mets to win games not get in fights.. its not hockey
if you need a fight to get motivated to play harder then you are obviously in the league for money and not the championships
its not “retarded”… you here about things like that all the time, when something dynamic like a fight happens, it brings a team together… especially if its against a rival… playng with a chip on your shoulder (other than the dissapointment that was 07 and 08) makes a team play harder and with more heart.
But I guess we have to agree to disagree…
I know one thing, getting into a fight wouldnt do any harm, other than a couple games suspension for a few guys, soo since nothing anyone is doing is helping, i say give it a whirl
Brawl?? Ha. With who? Beltran? Luis Castillo? Reyes? Delgado? These guys have no heart and you think they can brawl? Bawl, maybe. Brawl, not so much.
Wow, everyone you named is a Latino.
Well done.
I guess thats my point, nobody on the team has the cojones to step up to the plate, no pun intended…
Although, i have visions of D-rex throwing a couple fists with dropkicks emanating from Citi Field’s brand new speakers, i bet he could do some damage
whatever, everyone loves a fight, even if it doesn’t bring the team together (which i still think it would)
I’m pretty sure Beltran would kick someone’s a$s if he was pushed too far (or if someone started sh!t with him). He’s a pretty tough dude, and in the rare instances he’s let the stoic mask slip, he’s got dem crazy eyes.
is gillick a moron(I know, dumb question) but is that REALLY the best thing they had going? Not Howard having another great year hr’s wise…not brad lidge having no blown saves???
That’s funny..I was thinking the exact same thing:
Did the Phillies GM just say that the biggest reason his team was successful was because their competition isn’t well-liked? Sounds like a real vote of confidence. And I guess it doesn’t bode well for the Phillies in the series since I don’t believe the Rays have any strong feelings about the Mets.
I’d hope they LOVE the Mets…we handed them their game 1 starter!
I think its more of a shot at the media. The majority of the media pointed to the Mets to win the division before the season and even after Willie was fired. The Phillies were coming off a season with a horrible bullpen and they just acquired a risky closer. The fact that the division beat up on the mets and the phillies are now in the World Series its like hey, screw the mets, we’re the team to beat.
if he did mean that..he could have said something like “the best thing that happened was the distration of…..etc etc”
The media? Yes..the media created some of the hate, but jeez…some Mets fans could not wait to throw the Johan signing in the Phillies fans face. Beltran declares “we are now the team to beat”. The whole year was full of arrogance. Listen, the Phillies GM said a dumb thing, but he is not entirely wrong. More then any other sport, baseball is a mental game. There is such a thing as overachieving based on determination. The Braves, Nats and Marlins were determined to beat the Mets. They were not determined to beat the Phills. It made a huge difference! On the flip side, the current Mets team is not mentally strong enough to handle these teams when they smell blood. Gillick is right…it helped against this particular Mets squad.
So why did the Mets have a better record against the Marlins and Nationals than the Phillies did?
Logic FAIL.
Down the stretch? When it looked like the Mets could take the division?
Yeah, and it was definitely “extra motivated” teams and not a horrible bullpen that did the Mets in.
doesn’t seem like they can beat those Marlins pitchers though. Come on…they were quite fired up, and stated so. Listen….some teams get motivated when they’re hated…not this one. Emotion can carry you a long way. All I’m saying.
No, Gillick is a genius who is going into the Hall of Fame at some point. I would not discount what he says. I wish he was our GM.
agreed, i don’t know why everyone is killing gillick for this quote. i guess matt led with his ignorance about how baseball works, but still, i don’t get it.
The 1986 Mets started the season 20–4 and had the division won by Memorial Day. Comparing the 2007–2008 teams to them, in any manner, is more than a bit of a stretch.
I love Reyes, but his behavior is childish and ridiculous with the asinine celebrations, and after losing the way we have two years in a row, every other team (especially the Phillies) SHOULD be mocking Jose and his childish behavior.
Let’s start the dugout dances when we are in first place by 10 games next year.
I agree, this team needs to get serious and focus on 1 goal WINNING!
Thank you…and I did love the curtain calls in the 80s, but those teams were as far from chokers as could ever be imagined.
yea but kingman its not only reyes that does celebratory things.. i would adv you to look at
victorino
hanley
dukes
the only team that doesnt have a player that comes to mind right away would be the bravesi
you have to win before you celebrate, and this team celebrates before winning, time to get serious and win a thing. then you celebrate as much as you want.
Dirty—I only watch the Mets on a regular basis so I don’t know what the others do every day, but I am not sure that virtually any other player in the game celebrates as regularly–and as childishly–as Reyes does with the silly dugout dances, which, if they were forced to tell the truth, probably embarra*s his teammates too. This group shouldn’t act that way after the last two years, in my opinion.
And Victorino has been in the postseason two years in a row.
Victorino got to the postseason by himself!
Yeah, smart comment.
So because Victorino’s teammates are better than Reyes’ teammates, he’s allowed to celebrate? Even though Reyes is a better player in every way?
exactly danny. It took the whole philly team to get there(in 2007 however it took a historically epic collapse on the part of the mets to get in). My point is this…we know who hates the mets but my question is why??? Imo the marlins/phillies/nats recently seem to despise the mets or at least its been made more public…if those teams hate the mets because of reyes’s celebratory actions, they themselves have players that do the same thing so i think thats a bit hypocitical. Also its not like the mets have won anything in a while…so really why do these teams hate the mets. I understand the braves because we have ALOT of rivalry history..but why the remaining teams
Danny, you are missing my point, and regardless, it is just my opinion. I think that even if we went 108–54 and won the World Series, Jose’s dances would still look ridiculous. The fact that he does it on a team which has failed to make the playoffs two years in a row, and does it constantly, is just silly in my opinion, and is bush-league nonsense.
And, the curtain calls in the 1980s, and lots of things players do that annoy opponents, are for