Pedro Martinez is still gleefully playing the villain.
“As soon as they see me they go, ‘Who’s your daddy?'” the Hall of Famer told The Steam Room podcast about his current day run-ins with Yankees fans. “If I go now and sit in the stands, they’ll go, ‘Hey Pedro, who’s your daddy?’”
Martinez brought the iconic troll onto himself late in the 2004 regular season. It became a rallying cry as the Yankees raced out to a 3-0 lead on the Red Sox in the ALCS. And then The Greatest Story Ever Told unfolded. So Martinez and Boston won in the end. But the chant lives on.
Six quick thoughts while we’re here:
* If John Olerud doesn’t bust his foot, the Yankees win the series. He was incredible during that postseason.
* If Tony Clark’s double stays in the park, the Yankees win the series. No doubt.
* The curse died when the Mark Bellhorn home run call got overturned. That was the moment that always went the Yankees’ way for generations.
* A-Rod got way too much heat for slapping Bronson Arroyo’s arm. If Paul O’Neill had done it people would have wanted to build him a statue. And why don’t people talk about the SWAT team on the field more?
* Terry Francona putting Martinez into Game 7 and bringing the stadium back to life was one of the dumbest moves in the history of baseball. Imagine if the Yankees had rallied somehow. I don’t think Francona makes it on the plane back to Boston.
* Martinez was always going to get booed when he left Game 6 of the 2009 World Series for the Phillies. But he deserved a standing ovation that night. If you were to rank New York’s most worthy sports adversaries, he might be in the top-5.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com
