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Big Unit's impediment in NYC: 'He doesn't like anybody'
Feb. 20, 2005
SportsLine.com wire reports
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Boston Red Sox reliever Matt Mantei thinks his former teammate, Randy Johnson, will have trouble adjusting to his new, pressure-filled surroundings with the New York Yankees.
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"It's going to be a tough fit for Randy," Mantei said Saturday. "He doesn't like the media. He doesn't like fans. He doesn't like anybody. So he's going to have a hard time.
"But, personally, I was a good friends with Randy so I love him to death and I wish him all the best except when he plays against us."
Mantei and Johnson were teammates with Arizona from 1999-2004. In 2003, Mantei saved 29 games, five for Johnson.
But now they're enemies, just as all the Yankees are to Mantei. He said he's not alone in disliking the club as a whole even though he doesn't dislike any of the players.
"I don't like the Yankees. I don't think anybody does. I don't think anybody does except the Yankees," he said.
He saw that firsthand after the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in the 2001 World Series.
"When we came to Boston in '02 for interleague (play) I actually went out across the street after the game to hang out with a couple of the guys," Mantei said. "People were thanking us. I mean the fans, 'Oh, thank you so much.' People were buying us beers."
Plenty of people would raise toasts to more postseason losses by the Yankees, like last year's AL Championship Series setback to Boston.
"Everybody in baseball wants to beat the Yankees because, for one, their salary, two, because they've got a lot of guys on the team that are All-Stars," Mantei said.
"They could be one of the best teams in baseball, but it's a matter of playing well together," he said. "You've got to have a clubhouse (where) everybody gets along and everybody wants to battle for each other and win. It's not about one person and I think that might be what (the Yankees) are like. I think they have a lot of big egos."
Feb. 20, 2005
SportsLine.com wire reports
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Boston Red Sox reliever Matt Mantei thinks his former teammate, Randy Johnson, will have trouble adjusting to his new, pressure-filled surroundings with the New York Yankees.
Advertisement
"It's going to be a tough fit for Randy," Mantei said Saturday. "He doesn't like the media. He doesn't like fans. He doesn't like anybody. So he's going to have a hard time.
"But, personally, I was a good friends with Randy so I love him to death and I wish him all the best except when he plays against us."
Mantei and Johnson were teammates with Arizona from 1999-2004. In 2003, Mantei saved 29 games, five for Johnson.
But now they're enemies, just as all the Yankees are to Mantei. He said he's not alone in disliking the club as a whole even though he doesn't dislike any of the players.
"I don't like the Yankees. I don't think anybody does. I don't think anybody does except the Yankees," he said.
He saw that firsthand after the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in the 2001 World Series.
"When we came to Boston in '02 for interleague (play) I actually went out across the street after the game to hang out with a couple of the guys," Mantei said. "People were thanking us. I mean the fans, 'Oh, thank you so much.' People were buying us beers."
Plenty of people would raise toasts to more postseason losses by the Yankees, like last year's AL Championship Series setback to Boston.
"Everybody in baseball wants to beat the Yankees because, for one, their salary, two, because they've got a lot of guys on the team that are All-Stars," Mantei said.
"They could be one of the best teams in baseball, but it's a matter of playing well together," he said. "You've got to have a clubhouse (where) everybody gets along and everybody wants to battle for each other and win. It's not about one person and I think that might be what (the Yankees) are like. I think they have a lot of big egos."
