To Sheff, Quantrill message is one Yanks needed to send

[BuckFoston]

Paul Quantrill's payback pitch on Tuesday night was a reminder that the issue of protecting teammates hovered over the Yankees the last couple of years, particularly as it applied to the Red Sox. You always had a sense that many a Yankee thought Manny Ramirez or David Ortiz should have been forced to hit the dirt on occasion, especially since Pedro Martinez and even Bronson Arroyo seemed to have no qualms about throwing purpose pitches.

Yesterday, Gary Sheffield confirmed that sense.

Sheffield was talking about how important it was for a pitcher like Quantrill to let the opposing team, even if it was only the Tigers, know it would have to answer for plunking Alex Rodriguez on a night when he'd already hit two home runs.

"You gotta be able to keep your offensive players comfortable in the (batter's) box," was the way Sheffield put it yesterday. "I've never been a guy who has worried about whether a pitcher has my back, because I'll do what I've gotta do if something happens. But for a team, it's important that guys get in the box knowing somebody has their back.

"That's how you get respect in the clubhouse. If you let things go, you lose respect real fast."

Sheffield wasn't saying he had a problem with Yankee pitchers last year, he made that clear. But when the subject of Red Sox pitchers dusting Yankee hitters was raised, he also made it clear he thought Sox hitters got off easy.

"There were times when you could have brushed guys off the plate," Sheffield said. "They were allowed to be comfortable in the box. I would have liked to see them be uncomfortable in there.

"The problem is that (as a pitcher) if you let guys sit there and get comfortable, eventually you're gonna get killed."

So, Sheffield was asked, would he mind seeing someone come up and in on Ortiz the Yankee-killer this weekend?

"Too late for that," Sheffield said. "They already beat us."

Obviously Sheffield was still thinking about what a purpose pitch might have done to cool off Ortiz's hot bat in last year's ALCS, but he surely wouldn't mind seeing Yankee pitchers set a tone for this season by getting a little meaner with Sox hitters.

Of course, Chien-Ming Wang isn't terribly intimidating, but he looked like the real thing as he pitched well again last night in a 4-2 victory over the Tigers that raised his record to 3-1. Still, according to at least one American League scout, pitching inside was an issue for the Yankees last season.

"It became part of my reports on the Yankees last year," the scout said yesterday. "As a staff, they didn't move hitters off the plate much at all, and hitters knew it. This year I haven't seen enough of them yet to tell a lot. But just getting (Randy) Johnson should make a difference."

It's true, while Johnson hasn't been throwing his old Big Unit fastball much this season, he still strikes fear into hitters, especially lefties. Just ask Cliff Floyd, who was sent spinning out of the batter's box when Johnson came up and in on him.

"It scared the hell out of me," Floyd said.

Floyd admitted wondering whether it was intentional, since Johnson had just given up that memorable double to Dae-Sung Koo and then a home run to Miguel Cairo.

"I don't know if his pride was hurt," Floyd said. "But I think if he wanted to drop me, he would have dropped me."

Either way, it made an impression, same as Quantrill on Tuesday night. Only in this case, there was no question about intent. The Yankees couldn't let the Tigers drill A-Rod without some sort of retaliation.

It's not about A-Rod suddenly being accepted as a Yankee, either, even if that seems to be a popular media theory. It's about baseball law and order.

"You need to know that guys are going to go out and fight for you," Sheffield said. "It's very important. It's the way the game has been played for the last 50, 100 years."

Quantrill, the 36-year-old reliever, has been around long enough to know how it works. If the Tigers didn't like it, tough. That's what you had to admire about Quantrill; though he is no doubt facing a suspension, he wasn't running from his actions yesterday, but firing back at Dmitri Young, the most vocal of the Tigers who took offense to the plunking.

Noting that Young crashed into catcher John Flaherty in spring training in what the Yankees saw as an unnecessary collision, Quantrill said, "I think Dmitri wears his doo-rag too tight. I don't need to hear Dmitri's opinion."

This would have been bigger news coming from the Big Unit or even Mike Mussina. Quantrill doesn't have an important role in the bullpen these days, which is why he was in there in Tuesday night's blowout.

But it wouldn't hurt the Yankees if a little bit of Quantrill rubbed off on some of their other pitchers. Especially with the Red Sox coming to town this weekend. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...p-267931c.html

[nyjunc]

I posted this artilce earlier but it's something I agree w/ especially this weekend. We cannot let Sox pitchers keep hitting our guys, we need to retaliate and make their hitters uncomfortable.

[General]

Quantrill's completely right. I like that shot at Young!

[Hammer]

"This would have been bigger news coming from the Big Unit or even Mike Mussina. "

God forbid Moose grew some balls and threw at anybody. That game a couple years ago... where Pedro drilled Jeter and Soriano to lead off the game and sent them both to the hospital... and Moose did NOTHING... still has me down on him.

[joek]

He is one of the two non WIN METHOD players on the team. He will not defend a teamate.