A bunch of anti-Pedro-ness has invaded my senses lately. A few weekends ago, I was in NYC and WFAN was celebrating their birthday by playing all kinds of old audio clips. One was of caller-turned-host Joe Benigno. Joe's a Met fan, and after the 2003 ALCS, he was as mad as any normal, non-Yankee-fan person would've been at the time. But in this old clip from right after the Grady Little incident, Joe was screaming (literally) about how Pedro should never be mentioned in the same breath as the greats because he "spit the bit" in that game. First of all, he didn't know he'd be staying in the game. Second of all, I still say he pitched well (and I seem to be the one Sox fan who will still admit to this day that I would have stuck with him, too) in that eighth inning. Posada's "double" was the bloopiest, Yankiest hit you can get. And everyone says Matsui hit a good pitch on his liner to right. Pedro pitched a good game. Nobody even remembers that was a Pedro vs. Rocket game, because Roger was gone in the fourth inning. Mo Rivera pitched as many innings in that game as Roger did.

The point of playing that clip was that Joe was super-pissed at Pedro, but then his team got Pedro. (After Pedro pitched the Sox to the World Series victory that next year. I never did hear what Joe had to say about that stuff....)

Right after that clip show ended, another show came on, hosted by a woman whose name I can't recall. (By process of elimination, it's probably Lori Rubinson, but don't hold me to that.) She was talking about her "My Jerk Theory": You hate a jerky player until he's on your team. This woman is also a Met fan. One of her examples of "My Jerk" was Pedro. "I used to hate Pedro--this was the guy who threw down Don Zimmer!" Whoa, ginga. Pedro was attacked by Zimmer. Zimmer has admitted it. Video proves it. Pedro grabbed that gerbil's head in self-defense and altered his path like a bomb knocking a big, fat, ancient asteroid out of its orbit. Now, I will grant you this, and I said it the day it happened (Pat can vouch for me): Even before I knew Pedro's move was justified, I thought, That was the single coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. But it turned out Pedro was proven to have acted in self-defense. That shouldn't be forgotten. Fox's camera angle was unfortunate. In regular speed it seems like Pedro is going after the gerb'. But we all know the truth, so let's start telling the truth. But I'm even more mad that a Mets fan is saying this! What kind of Mets fan defends a Yankee against any of their rivals? What is that? It may be that breed of Met fan who's "pro-New York" as a city, and therefore hates Boston. TJ by those people. We should all be united in our hatred of the Yankees.

That Zimmer thing came up again a few days ago, on one of those Best Damn Top 50 Moments of Whatever, on Fox Sports. They started describing it by showing a fake newspaper story of the event, which was dated November 11th, 2003. So that gives you an idea of the quality of the show. They proceeded to show it as it aired that day, complete with McCarver crying about what a travesty it was--again, before we knew what really happened. Did this show say, "But, we learned that Zimmer had charged Pedro like a drunken bull..." Of course not? They led a whole new group of casual fans to believer that Pedro is some evil guy, when he's really a fun-lovin', wacky guy who happens to be the best pitcher of his generation.

And next time someone tells you about how Pedro "hit two Yankees in a row, sending them both to the hospital," show them this:

"Soriano struck out; Jeter was hit by a pitch;"

If Soriano feels the need to send for an ambulance after striking out, that's his prerogative. And if Jeter, who practically holds his hands in the strike zone, wants to go to the hospital after half-swinging at a ball, having it hit his hand, and playing the field the next inning, again, it's his call.