Jimmy Rollins helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to five-straight NL East titles and the 2008 World Series championship. And he had fun beating the New York Mets all along.
Rollins and the Phillies reignited their rivalry with the Mets in the 2000s and the talkative shortstop got the last laugh.
Rollins explained to co-host Ron Darling how he got in the Mets’ heads and how he used trash talking to his advantage on Audacy’s “Unwritten: Behind Baseball’s Secret Rules” podcast.
“For me, it was always psychological,” Rollins said (3:23 in player above). “How can I get into your head without you even knowing it? And I used to read books, not on trash talking, just about how the mind works and how you’re in a zone and what gets you out of a zone.”
Rollins explained that when opposing hitters on rivals like the Mets got to second base, he’d “befriend” them to try to get in their heads.
“‘Hey man, what are you doing? You’re just so locked in. What’s different? I saw you last week and now this week you’re just on fire,’” Rollins said. “Because I wanted them to think about what they were doing and I wanted them to come up to the plate the next time and look at me, I’m up there looking like I’m studying like I’m trying to figure it out. So now, they felt like they’re putting on a show. The last thing they’re doing is thinking about hitting a baseball. I want them to worry about how do I do that again and how do I get second base again so he can ask me or maybe I can tell him that time. And if that works, I got into your head.”
One of the first things that got Rollins in the Mets’ heads was saying that the Phillies were the team to beat prior to the 2007 season. It was a bold take, to be fair, as the Mets made the 2006 NLCS after finishing 12 games ahead of the Phillies in the regular season.
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“In ‘07, saying we’re the team to beat, for real, that wasn’t really talking trash. I felt that in my heart,” Rollins said. “From the other side, ‘Jimmy’s crazy’ and this and that. And maybe they were right. Maybe I was crazy. Maybe I am a little bit crazy.”
Even if Rollins was a little crazy with his prediction, it ended up coming true after a Mets collapse.
“At the end of the year when they started losing, what I felt is that now they were having to answer their own questions. I didn’t have to answer them anymore, he continued.
Rollins learned from his mom that if he’s going to say something, it’s up to them to make sure that he doesn’t get it done. If he doesn’t live up to it, it was just trash talk, but if he does, it’s only the beginning.
“You have to win now. You have to do everything. That puts a lot of pressure, so for me, I went about it that way. I want to put the pressure on you. I told you what I’m gonna do. I told you what’s gonna happen. I want you to prove me wrong,” Rollins said. “And I think a lot of guys didn’t really understand that. It was having to answer questions. And we heard just how that other locker room was. At the end, they’re dodging media, because now it’s like what’s happening? This was said, Jimmy said they’re the team to beat, and they’re right on your heels.”
The Phillies hosted the Mets for a crucial four-game set at the end of August. They swept the series to cut New York’s lead to two games.
“Now they’re having to deal with ‘Are you guys gonna let this happen?’ That’s a lot of pressure on the clubhouse and it lasted for a number of years.”
The Mets regained their footing in the NL East and held a seven-game lead with 17 games to play. Once again, the Mets and Phillies faced off, this time in New York, and Philadelphia swept the three-game set. The Phillies, of course, went on to win the NL East on the final day of the 2007 season.
The Mets went out and got Francisco Rodriguez for the 2008 season as their bullpen “was a big part of their failures coming down the stretch.” They also doubled down with Carlos Beltran “plagiarising” Rollins by saying the Mets were the team to beat
“Beltran was like to Jimmy Rollins, in particular, ste’re the team to beat. And I start laughing because I’m like it doesn’t work against me. And that let me know right there, Ron, right there, the pressure that was put on them from the beginning of the season – although I mean they were running through the season but they didn’t finish it out,” Rollins said.
“So every year after that, from 2007, it was always that question. Are you guys gonna live up to us, the Phillies, beating the Mets, winning the division, and the Mets live up to all the stuff that you said in response because so far you haven’t been able to do that,” he continued.
The Phillies’ NL East title in 2007 was the first of five straight for the franchise. They made back-to-back World Series in 2008 and 2009, winning their first championship since 1980 in 2008 against the Rays.
“And 2008, that for sure proved my point that I was in their heads. That we were in their head. The city of Philadelphia was in the city of New York’s heads because of what happened. So it has a lasting effect.
“Talking trash at the moment … that’s one thing. But the psychological effect it has on that team, every time they walk into that clubhouse when they’re facing us. They want to beat us that much more. They want to disprove what I said and how did that work out for them? It didn’t work out too well.”
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