Phil Sheridan | Will Phils or Mets lead in trash talk?

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Surely we can do better than the tepid cross-state crossfire between the Phillies and the New York Mets the last couple days.

It started when shortstop Jimmy Rollins said his Phillies are the "team to beat" in the National League East in 2007. Last year's division champs, the Mets, were surprised to hear this. They heard it, of course, from reporters for New York's tabloids, which tried to drum up a tasty little controversy.

"Silly Phillie" was the headline on the back page of yesterday's New York Daily News. The Post hit the story a day earlier. And no wonder. This had all the makings: a player from the Phillies, who haven't sniffed the postseason since 1993, with the audacity to disrespect a team from the center of the known universe?

There was only one problem. Nobody's all that worked up. Read the actual quotes from the Mets, and they're mostly shrugging this off.

Enter Brett Myers. The Phillies righthanded starting pitcher got a mischievous look in his eye when clubhouse conversation turned to the (so far) bloodless feud.

"Hey, a little trash talk never hurts," Myers said. "They think they're good. We think we're good. It will be fun."

So who is the team to beat?

"Obviously you'd have to say the Mets," Myers said, using the changeup to set up the fastball: "Until we get that 20-game lead on them and they have to catch up."

The reality is, the Phillies and the Mets have what appear to be two pretty good baseball teams right now. The Mets won 97 games last year. Their starting pitching is full of question marks, but it was throughout the 2006 season, too. Their bullpen is sound. Their lineup is imposing.

"It's an American League lineup," Myers said. (For the record, that's a compliment.)

The Mets sprinted to the division lead while the Phillies stumbled along like a guy in a three-legged race. They snapped Atlanta's long hold on the division title while the Phillies came up short in another wild-card race.

But that was last year. Rollins was talking about this year.

"We've built on last year," second baseman Chase Utley said. There is no quote better than the expression on his face when asked whether the Phillies passed the Mets. Utley looked like he'd rather have his appendix removed with a fungo bat than touch that one.

The Phillies' rotation looks like the best in the division and maybe in the National League. They have the reigning NL MVP in Ryan Howard, who forms, with Rollins and Utley, a formidable offensive infield. The Mets get the edge at third with David Wright, although Wes Helms should give the Phillies more offense.

"I think Ryan is more dangerous [than Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado] right now," Myers said. "That's based on what he was doing at the end of last year."

If nothing else, give Rollins credit for starting this conversation. It's a welcome change of pace to be talking about the Phillies this way, especially because it's legitimate.

Here's a snapshot from yesterday at the Carpenter Complex. Cole Hamels pitched to a group of three hitters: Rollins, Utley, Howard. Most years, if you wanted to see the best power hitter in baseball, arguably the best young lefthanded starter in baseball and perhaps the best offensive middle infield combination in baseball, you'd have to travel around Florida and Arizona.

Here they were on the same field at the same time, wearing the same uniform. Better yet, the oldest of the four, Rollins, just turned 28 in November. These guys are entering their primes. Together.

Watching Utley whoop at the nastiness of a Hamels changeup made you think how suddenly this happened.

Two years ago this week, the Phillies had Howard wandering lost in left field, hoping they could get him to the majors that way. Hamels was in the doghouse after breaking his hand in a fight outside a Clearwater bar. Utley was set to platoon with Placido Polanco. Rollins was the only established major leaguer in the bunch.

That was two years ago. Expectations were not a problem then.

So when Rollins speaks up about this team, it's because he sees what the rest of us see.

"If Jimmy's got something to say, let him say it," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "It's OK. I don't see anything wrong with having a little swagger, a little cockiness."

Manuel nodded slowly when apprised that the Mets' reaction went something like, "So what did the Phillies win last year?"

"Ah, I'm not touching that," Manuel said. "But St. Louis did win the [World] Series, right?"

See? We can do better. This thing may heat up into something by Opening Day after all.