Beating a Dead Horse

There is nothing better than a little trash talking to start the season. But when it's over played and unwitty, I tend to yawn. I mean really, New York, be creative. Your newly signed closer, Francisco Rodriguez deemed the Mets the "team to beat." Jimmy Rollins made that bold prediction in 2007 as the Phillies went on to win the division. The Carlos Beltran opened his mouth and repeated what Mr. Rollins said prior to another 2008 loss to the Phillies. Now K-Rod? It's like the Mets are a bunch of third graders.

I know there was other talk like Cole Hamels calling the Mets "choke artists" and Rollins again claiming the Phillies will stand alone on top of the NL East. Even the hilarity of Shane Victorino doing his Joes Reyes impersonation after hitting a grand slam in game 2 of the NLCS, poking fun at how Reyes "pimps" his home runs. Those were creative. The Mets are simply trying to use a Rollins creation and use it against the Phillies, again. It gets old gentlemen. If you want it to stop, beat the Phillies and win a World Series.

A recap of the trash talk dating back to J-Roll's infamous prediction:

"I think we are the team to beat in the NL East--finally. But
that's only on paper." - Rollins 2007

"We’ll win probably 100 games . . . 100 games will get us to the
playoffs." - Rollins 2007

"This year, tell Jimmy Rollins WE'RE the team to beat." - Beltran 2008

<-Shane Victorino hits grand slam off of Milawaukee's CC Sabathia and "pimps" his home run like Jose Reys of the Mets. (photo courtesy of Matt Rourke/AP)

"That's kind of what we believed and I think we're always going to believe
that until they prove us wrong. For the past two years they've been choke
artists." - Hamels 2008

"Of course, we're going to try to win the division. Of course, we're going
to be the front-runner. Of course, we're going to be the team to beat." - F. Rodriguez
2008

"He will be watched every time he faces us and hopefully we kill him. Then
he has to deal with the situation." - Beltran 2009

"We don't worry about Philly. I don't know why they worry so much about the
New York Mets. They are the ones to win the World Series, not us, and we don't
say nothing about them. We just say congratulations to the Phillies.They always
seem like they're talking something about us. I don't know why. I mean, they
have to be happy because they win the World Series. Why are they focusing on us?
If they don't like us that's OK." - Reyes 2009