Daily Archives: February 21, 2005

And what about the newest members of the Bronx Bombers? Here’s Jayson Stark on Randy Johnson and Tyler Kepner on Jaret Wright.

On the lighter side, Jack Curry had a nice, long piece covering Bernie Williams’ five-day tour of Venezuela and Colombia as U.S. cultural ambassador last week.

And Bob Klapisch recently caught up with Mariano Rivera to talk about how the 2004 ALCS may have effected his pysche:

To even suggest the Sox are in his head evokes a smile out of Rivera, who playfully says, “Come on, bro, no way. That’s not possible.”

That’s not a lie. That’s not a boast. Rivera is among the least neurotic players in the clubhouse, having made a permanent peace with the leadoff walk to Kevin Millar in the ninth inning of Game 4, ultimately costing the Bombers a chance to sweep the Sox.

But no one counted on Rivera walking Millar on a full-count fastball just inches inside. That started the Yankees on a downward spiral that turned into the most traumatic postseason collapse in baseball history.

Sitting at home days later, watching the Red Sox on TV in the World Series, Rivera said, “I asked myself, ‘What could we have done differently? What did I do wrong?’ It took me eight to 10 days to get over it. Then, I finally decided it wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes you just can’t explain it and you leave it at that.”

…”What’s the point of being angry at myself or at losing?” he said. “Life will go on. Baseball will go on. No one is supposed to succeed every time. I’ve always said, you learn more from failing than you do from winning.”

Roger Angell couldn’t have said it better himself.

The Alex Rodriguez story continued over the weekend as various members of the World Champs (Millar, Arroyo and newcomer, Matt Mantei) had their say. Rodriguez spoke with reporters at Legends Field on Sunday and addressed some of what has been flying around of late. John Harper doesn’t think Rodriguez is helping himself any, but Murray Chass holds the media responsible for all of this mishigoss:

One player, Trot Nixon, ignited the game with negative comments about Rodriguez last week and atorrent of teammates have followed. But the teammates’ comments have not been unsolicited. They were at the urging of reporters eager to inflame the game to incendiary levels. They were all but handed a script.

Athletes have long accused reporters of creating stories, and, sadly, this is one of those instances. It has become one of the most distasteful instances I have witnessed in 45 years of covering baseball.

…This story has not seen its last chapter. Twenty-four position players will be in the Red Sox’ camp tomorrow. That’s 24 more players who can be asked about A-Rod.

No, make that 23. Kevin Millar showed up yesterday and was asked the obligatory question. It doesn’t matter what he said in response. Just that he was asked was predictable and ridiculous enough.

Joe Torre is from the old school, and bemoans the current in-your-face culture of self-promotion and disrespect:

“As a whole, there is a lack of respect. It’s unfortunate and I know that I speak for my generation, but it’s reality. I don’t know. It certainly is against the grain for me.”

“I would like to believe when we win as a team, you understand how tough it is to win and you respect the other team that tried to beat you. You have to understand there is somebody else trying to do the same thing you are.”