NEW YORK (AP) - Phillies ace Cole Hamels called the New York Mets "choke artists" in an interview on the Mets' flagship radio station Thursday, becoming the latest star to stoke the rivalry between the NL East powers.
Philadelphia has rallied past the Mets to win the division title in each of the last two seasons, and Hamels won the World Series MVP award when the Phils won the championship this year.
When asked by one of the hosts on WFAN if the Mets were choke artists, the left-hander agreed.
"Last year and this year I think we did believe that," Hamels said. "Three years ago we didn't because they smoked everybody, and I really thought that was the year they were going to go to the World Series. Unfortunately it didn't happen.
"That's kind of what we believe and I think we're going to always believe it until they prove us wrong."
Hamels didn't back off when asked to repeat his comments.
"Yeah, for the past two years they've been choke artists," he said.
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The Mets won the division in 2006 and lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL championship series.
The trash talk between the two teams started before the 2007 season when Jimmy Rollins pronounced Philadelphia the team to beat in the NL East even though New York ran away with the division crown the year before. Rollins backed up his brash words by winning the NL MVP award.
Early in spring training this year, after the Mets acquired Johan Santana, normally quiet Carlos Beltran had a message for Rollins, saying the Mets were the team to beat in 2008. Philadelphia went on to win the division and beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series.
