PHILADELPHIA — When you get right down to it, all these Mets want is to be given a Fightin’ chance.
That chip on their shoulder they’ve been carrying around helped carry them past the Phillies last night at chilly Citizens Bank Park, with Chris Young surviving 51/3 innings and hitting his way into the Mets’ record book in the initial meeting of the year between the rivals.
The Mets aced their first real test.
From the first day of spring training, manager Terry Collins promised that his Mets would play hard, run the bases aggressively and be patient at the plate. Essentially, they would have a game plan — something the Mets never had under Jerry Manuel.
GM Sandy Alderson did his dumpster-diving part by signing Young to a $1.1 million base contract, and last night that deal paid its first dividend with a 7-1 victory as the Mets drew first blood against the Phillies’ Sports Illustrated cover rotation, bludgeoning Cole Hamels, who did not make it out of the third.
The Mets put up six runs in the third, and Young came up with two singles in the frame — the first time a Mets pitcher has had two hits in an inning.
It was his night, the Mets’ night, the “anything can happen” beauty of baseball.
“I just think that this team has a really good vibe to it,” Young told The Post. “There are no egos. We’re going to fight tooth and nail to be the best team that we can be.”
Phils manager Charlie Manuel is convinced the Mets are better than people think.
“I heard people talk about how many games they’re going to lose,” Manuel began, “but they’ve got good players. They’ve got some speed, power. They had 13 hits tonight. They’re more than a second-division team, I’m telling you.”
Jose Reyes started the game with a single, and the Mets never stopped hitting.
“We’re playing together as a team,” Reyes said. “If we can do that all season long I think we can compete.”
Noted Angel Pagan, “We have a good enough team to contend.”
On this night they were the “team to beat,” but it’s a long season, and Reyes probably won’t remain in a Mets uniform.
Come July, the free-agent-to-be could be dealt and the Mets could be 12 games back of the Phillies,
But all that is a long way off.
Let these Mets have some fun. They took out their frustrations on Hamels, who is 2-9 lifetime against them and was 0-4 last season vs. the Mets.
Even Manuel’s Mets had their way with the lefty, but Collins’ Mets’ are playing a much better brand of baseball. If Young and Chris Capuano can give them a lift at the back end of the rotation, and the bullpen can hold up, the Mets will not be a lost cause.
They’re off to a 3-1 start, and sit atop the division with the Phillies.
Hamels is 1-6 against the Mets since labeling them “choke artists” in 2008.
“I remember he came up to me, soon after that, we were at some charity event and apologized to me about it, that was cool,” explained David Wright, who tied a career high with four hits.
“I think he was doing one of those radio blasts, doing a bunch of interviews after the World Series, and it was just one of those things.”
This was only one game, but it was a small statement by the Mets. Hamels had never allowed six runs in an inning. The Mets will not roll over and die. April is their September, and they have not embarrassed themselves the first week of the season.
“You want to play against the best there is,” Collins said of the Phillies rotation. “It’s a huge challenge for us. Our team talked throughout spring training about it. We’re up for the challenge.”
They showed they were last night. The Mets showed some fight. Usually, that is the Fightin’ Phillies way of doing baseball business.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com