MikeyChalupa

Hey, voicing your opinion is one thing. Going from:

May 2001: "Wake up the Bambino and have me face him, maybe I'll drill him in the ass."

to last month's: "What can I say – just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy. I can't find a way to beat them at this point. ... They're that good. They're that hot right now – at least against me. I wish they would disappear and not come back."

to this week's rambling, incoherent babble:

"Today I was the center of attention of the whole city of New York. I thank God for that. I don't like to brag about myself, but they did make me feel important. It actually made me feel really, really good. I actually realized that I was somebody important, because I caught the attention of 60,000 people, plus you guys [reporters], plus the whole world watching a guy that if you reverse time back 15 years ago, I was sitting under a mango tree without 50 cents to actually pay for a bus. And today I was the center of the attention of the whole city of New York. I thank God for that and you know what? I don't regret one bit what they do out there. I respect them and I actually kind of like it because I don't like to brag about myself, I don't like to talk about myself, but they made me feel important. I did whatever possible to actually keep my team in the fight. I can't do anything if we don't score runs. Whenever I'll get the support, I don't know."

Come on, Sox fans, tell me you didn't have a problem with that.

This is unacceptable when you are supposed to be the ace of your staff, a leader on your team. Pedro is admitting defeat, conceding the series and the season. The Yankees and their fans are beating the Sox not only on the field but in their heads too. That is why the Curse survives and the Yankees continue to own the Sox. Not because the Yankees buy their teams, the Sox spend more than any other team in baseball except the Yankees and the margin between the two gets smaller every year. Not because of Fenway Park, and not even because of Babe Ruth. It's because the Sox have a loser's mentality. They beat themselves. They give up. The Yankees expect to win. YOU have to beat them, because they won't beat themselves. Once you have been to the top, you want to get back there. The Yankees are driven by that desire to be Champions. Boston is simply not. Pedro is a prime example. He acts like a whiny primadonna. He is late to team meetings or misses them altogether. Love Jeter or hate him (envy him, more like it), he is an example of the Yankee mentality. So is Bernie Williams, and Mariano Rivera. Quiet winners who let their actions and accomplishments on the field define them, not post-loss soundbites.

Who knows, it might be because of Babe Ruth. Interestingly enough, at the time of Pedro's May 2001 challenge to the Bambino, he was 7-1 with a 1.44 ERA. Afterwards, he suffered an injury to his rotator cuff, managed only seven more starts and was 0-2 with a 4.54 ERA. The Sox lost their remaining 7 games to the Yankees that season.

-Mikey