It's unlikely New Yorkers feel the same way.

They might not mind so much if he hadn't named the Phillies the team to beat in the National League East last season and then helped them become the first team in baseball history to overcome a seven-game deficit in 17 games to make the postseason.

All at the Mets' expense, of course.

The Phillies begin a three-game series against the Mets this afternoon in the final home opener at Shea Stadium, which will be replaced by the new Citi Field. The Phillies have won eight straight games against the Mets and swept them in their last two series at Shea.

"It's definitely a fun place to play in New York," said Rollins, the National League's reigning MVP, who hit .346 with six homers and 15 RBIs against the Mets last season. "You know what the media is going to be like. If you do something in that series, it's probably going to be on ESPN, in the paper, and be talked about.

"You do something somewhere outside of New York, you might get a little press. But up there, they love to run with it. A lot more writers. A lot more people wanting a story."

He gave them a story last year.

"Yeah," he said. "It was a lot of fun."

So, will there be no bold proclamation before this series?

"It's going to be fun."

That's it?

That's not very New Yorkish.

"Write something for me," he said with a smile. "You have my permission. If somebody asks me if I said it, I'll say, 'Hey, they wrote it.' "

The Mets started the talking this year. It's gone back and forth since. Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran said in February, "So this year, to Jimmy Rollins, we are the team to beat."

Brett Myers replied: "He's just trying to pull a Jimmy when you can't have a sequel. Sequels are always terrible."

Phils manager Charlie Manuel didn't back away yesterday, either.

"It's kind of like a [rivalry] to us," he said. "To them, too. They make a big deal out of it. As long as we whip them, we don't have to make a big deal out of it. They'll talk. We'll hit. That's the only way I see it. That's the best thing."

"It's always intense when we play them," Myers said. "It's known we don't like each other as competitors. Obviously, they're in our division. They have an aura about them that I guess fires us up."

And the talking?

"I just think it's fun to be able to have that kind of impact on a series with comments made," Myers said. "Now it's like this huge deal. It's funny. Jimmy said it because he believes it, and we believe in him so that means we've got to do our jobs to make him look good.

"I think Beltran did it because it worked for us last year. It sounded good. I don't know; I don't know why he said it. Maybe he said it to fire up his team like Jimmy would do for us."

The Phillies haven't lost to the Mets since June 30, in an 8-3 defeat at Citizens Bank Park. They swept the Mets in a memorable four-game series at the Bank from Aug. 27 to Aug. 30. They also swept the Mets in a three-game series at Shea Stadium from Sept. 14 to Sept. 16 to begin the Mets' slide and the Phillies' run to their first postseason appearance since 1993.

"I think the rivalry is intense because we're both good," said Kyle Kendrick, who will pitch tomorrow night. "I think it's going to be crazy [today]. It's opening day against us. It's going to be fun. The fans are going to be crazy. It's going to be wild. I think it will be a fun series."

Cole Hamels agreed.

"I'm truly excited," he said. "You hear the boos and the comments. People love to hate you. Or they really do hate you."

Probably Rollins more than most.

at 215-854-4874 or tzolecki@phillynews.com. Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/phillieszone.