The rivalry between the Mets and the Phillies is among the fiercest in all of baseball. These two teams don’t like each other a little bit, and any player in either team who steps up against it’s chief NL East foe achieves legend status. Witness Francisco Lindor last October:
That grand slam led to an NL Division Series win over the Phillies, one of the few times in the last couple decades the Mets have held the upper hand, thanks in no small part to the Phillies’ core of stars in the late 2000s.
Former Mets All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes endured many battles with the Phillies in his ten seasons with the team. So he didn’t have to think too hard when he was asked about his least favorite opponent on SNY’s Baseball Night in New York.
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HOST SAL LICATA: Which team or player did you dislike the most?
REYES: Uh, team? Philadelphia, because I always go to Philly and they boo me. And the guy that I don’t like, we never say hello to each other was Chase Utley. We went to Japan to play that [exhibition] series in Japan [in 2006], he played second base, I played shortstop, we never say hello. So, and after what he did to [Ruben] Tejada [in the 2015 NLDS] –
LICATA: So you didn’t like him even before that?
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REYES: No. They don’t like me in Philadelphia!
LICATA: I know! I know!
For those unfamiliar, Utley is Public Enemy Number One among Mets fans for a few reasons, most significantly for a harsh takeout slide on Tejada in the 2015 postseason, a slide that broke Tejada’s leg, and likely derailed his career.
He also did plenty of damage on the field against the Mets, bashing so many homers at Citi Field to right field, some dubbed that part of the stadium “Utley’s Corner.”
If anyone is wondering how Utley feels about any of the vitriol from Reyes, or any of his buddies to the north, enjoy:
