"Jim-my Roll-ins! Jim-my Roll-ins!"
And while a players' name being intoned by a sports crowd usually represents appreciation for some sort of iconic accomplishment, this meant something else entirely.
This was a mocking. This was a Bronx cheer, just in a different New York borough. This was aimed at a player who so incensed a fan base because of a confident statement about himself and his teammates some three months prior.
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And until the Phillies win with some sort of consistency it will continue to fester.
Rollins boasted during the offseason that the Phillies are the team to beat in the National League and so far this season, their division rivals have primarily done just that, sending the Phillies to losses in six of their first seven games.
Rollins' coronation of the Phillies especially didn't sit well with their division rivals from the Big Apple, or their record Opening Day crowd.
Every time he stepped to the plate, he was booed lustily. When he was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning, the 56,227 cackled in unison. But the chant didn't happen until the eighth inning.
With the Phillies clinging to a one-run lead, the Mets loaded the bases with one out with Jose Reyes at the plate.
Reyes slapped a grounder toward Rollins, who tried to backhand the ball quickly in an effort to try to turn a double play.
Instead, he booted the ball.
"Jim-my Roll-ins! Jim-my Roll-ins!"
The error opened the floodgates on the field as well, as the Mets rallied for seven runs and blew out the Phillies 11-5.
"The crowd is great," said Rollins afterwards. "They're out there supporting their team and doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're supposed to try to get under your skin. It's fun to be out there."
Why would the fans be so vociferous?
Well, it's because they cheer for the Mets, who just happen to be the defending National League East Division Champions. It's because they are the team that was one win from the World Series last season.
It's because they've been there before - and Rollins hasn't.
And that's also why the Mets players kind of just shrug off Rollins' declaration, but at the same time warn that his words could come back to bite him.
"Any one of us would have done that," said former Phillie and current Mets closer Billy Wagner. "I don't think any (team) leader would come out and say - 'we're shooting for second.'
"But it's hard to trash talk in baseball because there's too many games. He spoke what he felt was the truth. That's just not how we do it here. Some things are better left not said. Just go and do it on the field."
Which Rollins couldn't do in his first game of the 2007 campaign against the Mets.
Prior to his error, Rollins had a chance to blow the game open in the fourth inning when he stepped to the plate against Mets starter John Maine with the bases loaded and one out.
Rather than build on a one-run Phils lead, Rollins bounced into a double play, killing the inning.
And while the two half innings are mutually exclusive, momentum did shift to the Mets in the bottom of the fourth, as they plated two runs to take their first lead of the game.
Veteran pitcher Tom Glavine, who won 11 consecutive division titles while with Atlanta and then did it again with the Mets last season, chuckled when asked about Rollins' bold assessment of the Phillies.
"I couldn't care less about it," he said. "(Jimmy) can say what he wants to say and that's fine. I'm sure his teammates are happy he feels that way, but there's different ways to do or say things. It makes for nice sports chit-chat, but in (the Mets clubhouse) it doesn't mean a lot."
Glavine admitted certain comments are often overplayed by the media - especially in larger markets where the analysis is sometimes overly saturated.
"It was certainly a little bit easier in Atlanta," he said. "There's no question that there is more day-to-day scrutiny in (New York) and Philadelphia, but that's why you have to be more careful about what you say."
As for the ever-candid Wagner, when pressed about Rollins' comments, he decided to take a parting shot at his former teammate.
"There is a time to speak out and a time not to," he said. "I'm as outspoken as they come and I don't have to be asked if we're the team to beat. That (answer) is pretty obvious."
Which it was Monday.
If the Phillies are to turn around their horrible start they're going to need to do it right away beginning Wednesday when they reconvene with the Mets at Shea.
And it'll have to start at the top of the lineup with Rollins. If not, he'll hear that derisive incantation every time he steps onto the field in New York.
"Jim-my Roll-ins! Jim-my Roll-ins!"
