I don’t want to hear anything that disrespects the Phillies from any Mets fan or any Mets player. The Mets arch rivals (are they really a rival anymore? Doesn’t that require two teams to be good?) won their second consecutive National League pennant having defeated the Dodgers in five games.  That is simply an outstanding achievement considering the two-tiered round of playoffs a team must win to get to the World Series.  The last National League team to do it was the 1995-96 Atlanta Braves in the midst of their 14 consecutive post season run.

So Mets fans and Mets players—shut up! The time has come for the Mets players and management to put their money where their mouths have been so often since 2006. From the moment Carlos Beltran took a third strike from Adam Wainwright, it has been going backwards ever since. Meanwhile, what have the Phillies done? They won three consecutive division titles. After getting knocked out in the first round in 2007, the Phillies came back last year to win the whole thing against the Tampa Bay Rays. Now they’re back again on the grandest of baseball stages to defend their world title awaiting the Yankees or Angels.

How many consecutive division championships have the Mets won? Answer: one. The Mets have never won back to back division titles in their 48 year history. The Mets won back to back wild cards in 1999 and 2000 under Bobby Valentine.  All other Mets post season appearances have been one offs—1969, 1973, 1986, 1988 and 2006.

So come next season when the Mets are back at Citi Field, please spare me the “Phillies Suck!” chant. That would be as embarrassing as the “Yankees Suck” cheer I heard hoards of people screaming at Shea Stadium over the years. I could never understand that mentality. Season after season, we witnessed the Mets playing in just futile situations while the Yankees made the post season year after year. And it was the Yankees that sucked? Please explain that one to me. I do not like the Yankees but they don’t suck and they haven’t for fifteen years.

All the Mets players, coaches, and front office must learn to keep the rhetoric down. Stop talking like the Mets are such a great franchise, they’re not. The entire organization has a lot to learn in how to build a championship team and conduct itself at a professional level. That was obvious this past season.

The sad truth for the Mets is that the Phillies are going to be good for a very long time. They could become what the Braves were from 1991 through 2005. They have an outstanding core and good starting pitching. Cliff Lee was a brilliant move. They were able to make that trade because the Phillies farm system is packed with talent.

So if the Mets are serious about winning, they need to stop talking and start doing the things that the Phillies did to build a winner. That does not mean the Mets should gut the team. Remember, prior to 2007, the Phillies had a lot of their current players in place but they could not put it together. Finally they did. So patience is a virtue that the Mets and their fans need to embrace. The Mets do not need to make big moves but they do need to be patient with some of their younger players.

The free agent market is thin this off season. It will be tough for the Mets to make big trades without creating other holes to fill. We must hope the injured players come back healthy next year. Perhaps a trade or signing for an outfielder or first baseman will help support the offense. They definitely need a starting pitcher or two. But mostly what the Mets need is some humility. An attitude adjustment is required. The Mets won the division in 2006 and played since as if it would come easy. Have they learned their lesson?

Anyway, this is one Mets fan that hates the Phillies but I do congratulate them. They deserve everything they have achieved. The Phillies are a model franchise. I wish I could say the same about the Mets. They can be but much work needs to be done and I am not confident the right people are in charge to get us there.