Mets announcer Keith Hernandez happy to miss upcoming games against the Phillies

Keith Hernandez was always a little defensive. But on Tuesday night, he went on the offensive.

The former New York Met who was known for being one of the top defensive first basemen of all time, ripped the Phillies tonight while he was calling tonight’s game between the Mets and the Cincinnati Reds on SNY.

While talking about the Mets’ upcoming schedule, he said he has asked SNY if he could sit out the Phillies games coming up because “as far as fundamentally and defensively, the Phillies have always been just not up to it.”

Hernandez might be a great commentator. He might have been in one of the best Seinfeld’s of all time. And he might have been a big part of the 1986 New York Mets championship team. But he must not be paying attention to the standings.

The Phillies are one of the hottest teams in baseball. Coming into tonight’s game, the Phillies have won 10 of their last 11 games, including four-game sweeps of Pittsburgh and Washington.

Their great fundamentals and defensive play have them moving up the standings. They’re in the second Wild Card spot and are rapidly gaining on the Braves.

After a three-game series with the Marlins, the Phillies will travel to New York to play the Mets. The Mets are up 10 games on the Phillies in the standings.

No word on if Hernandez felt this way in 2007, when the fundamentally flawed Phillies overtook the Mets, who were up seven games in the standings with 17 left to play. The Phillies went on to the playoffs, and a year later won the World Series.

The Mets haven’t done that since Hernandez was playing.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Mets announcer Keith Hernandez: Phillies fundamentally, defensively flawed