Oh wait, I forgot. That would mean scouting the local junior high girl?s hockey team for someone who is 135 pounds and cries like a girl. Let me get this straight. Last year in October, a baseball month usually reserved for the Annual Red Sox Player?s Cruise, you found yourself playing against the Yankees in game 3 of the pennant series. A couple of weeks ago you were mouthing off, rare, I know, for you, about the Karim Garcia ?incident? that lead to a near bloodbath involving an 80 year old fat guy. And this is what you said.
"I was having a bad day. I was struggling. There wasn't a good time for me to do anything bad at that point . . . Karim Garcia. Who's Karim Garcia? I have no respect for that guy, I don't have anything to prove to that guy. He needs to be forcing himself to come up to where I am, to my level. When you talk about [Derek] Jeter, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, guys like that that you really tip your hat, that you can understand, but guys like Karim Garcia, what? So what? Who are you? Who are you, Karim Garcia, to try to tell Pedro Martinez, a proven player for 10 years?"
So let me get this straight. The better players don?t get the ball thrown at their heads, only the mediocre players. If Karim was, say, a 330 lifetime hitter, than you would not have thrown at his head, right? Good thing the Yanks have a lineup of superstars this year, otherwise their might be a whole lotta beanin?. Please allow me to comment on your statement, Pedro.
- About the only thing you said that was true in that statement was ?I was struggling?. Yes you were. You were getting hit like a pi and Karim was an easy target because the press would not ream you the same as if you went after a superstar.
- NEVER, EVER put yourself on the same level as Jeter, Williams and O?Neill. Those guys play and act with class and dignity. Those guys play hard and treat others with respect, including the media. You throw at guys because they try to tell Pedro Martinez, a proven player for 10 years, what to do. Or something like that.
- Let?s be realistic about the 10 years thing. From 97-2001 you were the best of the best of the best. But early in your career you were a good, but not great, pitcher. Let?s have a little self awareness, shall we.
- Paul O?Neill is not still on the Yankees, he retired.
- This is my memory of the game. You were getting hit around. You decide to take it out on a player who is not as well known or good, but had been hitting you none the less, by throwing at his head. And let?s continue to be honest here, you did throw at his head. If I recall the incident correctly, the ball went BEHIND his head. Karim slides hard into second base and tries to take out Todd Walker. That was wrong but that is how the game is played. Then, in the bottom half of the inning, one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen happened. Clemens threw a pitch right down the middle of the plate to Manny Raminerz. It was a little high, but nowwhere inside. A couple of inches lower and it would have been a strike! Then that other spoiled idiot Manny charges the mound like Jose Canseco arguing with his wife and starts a fight that I will remember until the day they wheel me out of a nursing home on a gurney. YOU, Pedro, caused all of that crap. Not Clemens, not Manny, not Karim, not the Zim, not Walker. YOU DID. I?ll even forgive you for telling Posada that he is next because as you describe it, you were telling him to ?think? as you pointed at your own head, pointed at him, and held the baseball up and made a deliberate motion of the ball coming at you and hitting you in the middle of your face, then mouthing ?this will be you beak nose?.
I know this spring training thing with you is all a ruse. You like playing these games because you?re a great pitcher and superstar, and I am sure you?ll hit 95 and have an ERA under 2 and win 17 games or something. But too bad you?re such a freakin baby and had to 1) throw Grady Little under the bus during the off season, and 2) say stupid things about trying to hurt a guy during an important playoff game. Pedro, good luck this year and have fun playing golf in October.
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