Paper Tigers

Yankees Must Stink If They're Driven By Ink

Post Pandering: 'It's About Time the Bombers Drop David'

"The Yankees have to droppy Papi. They need to brush the beast back. They need to pick out one of David Ortiz' chins and let a little music dance across the whiskers. And they need to do this immediately. Across the next three days, Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina and Shawn Chacon will each get three or four shots to put Ortiz on notice that, on behalf of the entire Yankee pitching staff, they are mad as hell.

"And they aren't going to take it any more." -- 5.9.06, Mike Vaccaro, New York Post

Will the Empire Strike David?

Schill Doesn't See It Happening

Curt Schilling spoke about the possibility of Ortiz getting plunked on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan show this morning: “Most of the guys and gals that write here [in New York] are such horrific hacks anyway that that stuff doesn’t… I mean, seriously, I’ve played in a couple of cities before coming to Boston and the dredge of the places that I played in respect to the media, the people who wrote there have left those cities and come here, and they write here now. If I could just pick out some of the guys and people that were just horrible writers and I thought bad people, the places that I played before I came to Boston, they all went to New York and are writing there now. It’s so perfect, but it’s such a different… they’re just bad people. It’s just stupid, stupid, irresponsible stuff to do because again, this is such a different series. The thing is I’ll say in defense of New York or Boston right now, these three days is the reason why you play here, in either city. No one else in sports gets this.

“It might be the opposite [Randy Johnson’s response to the ‘Drop Papi’ back page]. The guy that wouldn’t do it just for the sake of… he wouldn’t want them to think that they actually mattered to him.

If Randy Johnson were to drill Ortiz in the first inning tonight, the warning comes out, I have very little doubt that Beckett would take care of his guys and probably drill Damon in the ass and then probably get thrown out of the game. That would all work toward the New York Yankees favor.

“Yeah, I think the ass would probably be one of the last places he’d hit somebody. Because one of the goals I think when you’re in a situation like that is to make sure that the guy that starts it doesn’t feel comfortable starting another one. Josh throws 98. And you know, that’s not… it’s something I’ve always thought about when I’m throwing. If I know that the other guy is A: stupid enough to retaliate for something he shouldn’t retaliate for or B: knows exactly how to handle it, you don’t want a guy like freakin’ [Mariano] Rivera trying to even the score against your guy, hitting your guy in the wrist and you lose somebody for the year. I think it would a huge advantage if he came out and hit David because it’s been nine innings bailing in the at-bats against Josh until he hits somebody. I don’t see that happening. These two teams are way above the media baloney that happens.”

What's the Point?

Papi Was Only 3-for-18 Against RJ in '05 Anyway

Eric Wilbur: Hard-Knock Response

He Tiptoes Through the Tulips

Should Fans Bring Petunias for Paydro When He Comes Back to Boston?

"...Martínez, the Mets star known for his intensity and cleverness on the mound and his quirkiness off it, is in the yard outside his six-bedroom Tudor revival home in Greenwich, Conn. He is planting. He is pruning. He is talking to his tulips. 'What about you, beauty?' he will ask in language rarely, if ever, heard on a baseball field. 'Aren't you going to grow up to be so pretty?' " -- 5.9.06, New York Times on Pedro's green thumb