There's been a mostly amusing war of the words this spring between the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets. For the most part, NL MVP Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies and Carlos Beltran of the Mets have been front and center.
But then a Jayson Stark column lightly suggested that it wouldn't be surprising if there's a Phillies-Mets brawl at some point this season. (That's going out on a limb, eh?)
And that led Mets closer (and former Phillies closer Billy Wagner) to sound off in a David Lennon story in Newsday.
Wagner's full quote appears in the second half of the entry:
Wagner's quote:
"I have all the respect in the world for those guys. I don't have any ill will against them. But if they want to come out and fight, then bring it on. That's their prerogative -- fine. I'm too old to be worrying about fighting somebody. I'm having enough trouble getting somebody out as it is.
"If one of their little 25-year-olds wants to come out and whip my ass, they can brag that they whipped a 37-year-old man's ass. Well, good for them. It's always good to play that underdog role.
"If they come out there, though, there's two things that could happen. I'm pretty sure they're going to whip my ass. But what if I get a shot in? What if? Then you just got your ass whipped on national TV by the littlest guy in baseball, so think of that 'What if?'"
Some advice to Wagner: Relax.
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