Boston’s imposing DH reponds to Mike Vacarro’s “It’s About Time The Bombers Drop David” proposition, via the Boston Globe’s Jackie McMullan.
Ortiz was not amused. It’s hard to blame him. ”Drop Papi!” can lead to all sorts of interpretations, including messing with the livelihood of the man in question.
”You don’t need to put that out there,” said Ortiz. ”I hate it when some [expletive] who has never played starts telling us how we should do things.
”All that does is cause problems nobody needs. Now if a guy goes out and makes a mistake and hits me, now what I am going to think? It’s out there now. Some writer starts causing [expletive], for what? I don’t understand it.”
The Red Sox slugger wasn’t the only one. When the topic of ”Drop Papi!” inevitably came up in Terry Francona’s news conference, the manager was in no mood to speculate on the value — or validity — of the newspaper hyperbole.
When asked if he had seen the back page of a certain New York city paper, Francona replied, ”I didn’t even see the front page.
”You go ahead and enjoy yourself with that one. I won’t talk about it.”
The morning after the Yankees are left wondering how much the 43 year old Randy Johnson has left in the tank, the New York Daily News’ John Harper uses the “C”-word in relation to Alex Rodriguez. No, not “competitor”.
All we know for sure is that A-Rod failed the Yankees again at an important moment, this time with his glove instead of his bat. And so you begin to wonder if he is ever going to win over this town, no matter what kind of numbers he puts up, or how many MVP awards he wins.
You begin to wonder if he is ever going to do something big to beat the Red Sox. They seem to bring out the worst in him, which is why Yankee fans are always ready to boo him at their first opportunity, as they did last night.
It has nothing to do with the money, either. This town gave A-Rod a hero’s welcome upon his arrival, and New Yorkers wanted to love him as much as they love Derek Jeter. But you can’t fool the fans. They know who produces in the clutch and who doesn’t.
Especially when there are guys like John Harper to remind them every day.