''Remember,'' Millar told Martinez, ''they ruffled the feathers first.
They're the ones who talked stupid. And if they want to get into any
headhunting thing, we've got the ultimate headhunter on our side. No one
stands up for their teammates better than you do.''
The Sox may have crossed into Canada to play the Blue Jays in a series
that has playoff implications for both teams, but the vapor trail from
their just-completed visit to the Bronx still followed them across the
border. The Yankees were in Cleveland, where neither Alfonso Soriano nor
Derek Jeter were in the starting lineup a day after Martinez hit both
Yankee stars in the hand with pitches.
Meanwhile, Martinez was in the visitors' clubhouse at SkyDome,
delivering this message to Steinbrenner, the owner of the Yankees: ''He'll
probably buy the whole league, but not my desire and my heart, unless he
buys me along with the whole league. He's not going to put any fear in my
heart. He doesn't have the money to buy fear and put it in my heart.''
Back in front of his own locker, Millar leveled a blast at Roger
Clemens, who on Saturday hit him in the left hand with a 95-mile-per-hour
fastball, then chided Millar afterward for failing to get out of the way
of the pitch.
''This has turned into a big old stupid thing,'' Millar said, ''and it
started with his stupid comment that I should have got out of the way of
his 95-mile-an-hour fastball. The classy thing would have been to call the
clubhouse and see if I was OK.
''As a veteran guy, you don't say that stuff. There's no bad blood
between Roger Clemens and me, but he threw a pitch that almost broke my
face, and you don't say things like he did that came out the next day.''
Martinez vowed he had no interest in getting into a war of words with
Steinbrenner, but responded to Steinbrenner's comments after Monday's 2-1
loss to the Bombers, in which he suggested Martinez deliberately threw at
his players.
''I don't know what was going through the man's mind,'' Steinbrenner
said in the Yankees' clubhouse, ''but if it's what it looked like, it's
not good for baseball, it's not good for [Martinez], and it's not good for
the Red Sox.''
While still upstairs at the end of the game, Steinbrenner had told
another cluster of reporters: ''If he threw at them to try to deliver a
message, he delivered the wrong [expletive] message, in my opinion.''
''I don't know what he's trying to say about that,'' Martinez said.
''That's exactly right, he can't do anything about that, whether I was
trying to send a message or not. Only I know.
''I was not meaning to hit anyone, especially Soriano. Soriano is my
kid from the Dominican. There's no way I want him hurt. Jeter's another
nice guy. I have no reason to hurt him. He's had plenty of hits, plenty of
at-bats against me. I've never hit him, not that I remember.
''If I wanted to hit them, I could hit them with one pitch. I know how
to do that. I'm not afraid to do it, or don't lack the experience to do
it. I can do it with just one pitch. I don't need three or four pitches. I
don't need to miss with that many pitches to hit Jeter or Soriano.''
Soriano, the Yankees' leadoff man, was hit in the left hand while
taking a swing on a 1-and-2 pitch and was not awarded first base because
he fouled the pitch off. Jeter, batting second, was hit in the right hand
on another 1-and-2 pitch.
Jeter, asked yesterday if he'd heard that Martinez said he did not
throw at him, smiled and said: ''Of course. When have you ever heard of a
pitcher saying he was trying to hit somebody?''
The double plunkings came two days after Clemens hit Millar. Clemens
also said of Red Sox first baseman David Ortiz, who hit a home run off
him, that he had too much plate coverage and the Yankees' ace would have
to ''make some adjustments'' the next time he faced him.
Was Clemens throwing at Millar?
''I have no idea,'' Martinez said. ''It's obvious he was the one
getting lit up. I wasn't. And what he said about Ortiz was more obvious
than trying to put thoughts on what I did yesterday.
''You heard what Millar had to say. You take whatever Millar said and
tell Steinbrenner he has yet to find out what I was thinking and what my
motives were. When he does, then we can talk. That's my message. I don't
have anything bad to say.''
Millar, however, had a few more things that he felt needed to be said.
''One of their guys swings and fouls a ball off his bat and fingers on
a 1-and-2 pitch,'' he said. ''Jeter was a 1-and-2 pitch. If [Martinez]
wanted to hit somebody, he would have hit them already.
''Then they said that about making an adjustment for Ortiz because he's
got plate coverage. Those are stupid comments. Play the game. Let's see
what happens if there's a Clemens-Martinez matchup. Let's see how many
adjustments he makes up and in then.
''You know what Pedro did with [Jason] Giambi after he got the tying
RBI hit after having him 0-and-2 then 3-and-2? You know what he did when
Giambi was at first base? He looked over and tipped his cap. That's class.
He was acknowledging a hell of an at-bat.
''He tipped his hat and Giambi gave it back to him. That's respect.
It's not about drilling guys. If they want to get into that, you don't
want to get into that with Pedro Martinez, because he backs up his
teammates better than anybody in the big leagues. He was more ticked off
about my situation than I was.
''If you think you're the big warrior just because you throw a
95-mile-an-hour fastball at a guy's head . . . The guy's [Clemens] won 300
games in the big leagues. He's a veteran. I don't know him at all, but
it's a battle facing him.
''I didn't say it was intentional. Hey, maybe the guy was throwing
inside and it got away from him. But just treat me with respect. Don't
question me the next day and say I should have gotten out of the way.
''Let me throw just one and see how quick he gets out of the way.''
This story ran on page F1 of the Boston Globe on 7/9/2003.
Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.