By Mitch Abramson
Specifically, he was asked if the Yankees are still his daddy? To which Martinez smiled, then frowned, then played down the significance of the matchup, comparing this game to taking out the garbage and driving the kids to school and other mundane tasks that life requires.”This isn't different at all,” Martinez said. “I had more fans behind me and less middle fingers, less hate words. I don't see anything interesting about the game. The Yankees are a good team. I respect them. I compete hard against them. (But) there's nothing emotional about them. I'm not here to talk about the Yankees. Please, ask me about me. If you don't, please let me go. My family's here.”Martinez's sentiment seemed to be the prevailing attitude among both teams for the Subway Series: It's just another game, so please don't ask me anything outside the lines. Translation: Don't ask about the rivalry because there isn't one.And there it was, as clear as the final score. The only people who think the series is special are the fans and the media. Leading up to the three-game series – which the Yankees won two games to one – most of the participants down played the significance of the Subway Series as if the games were some sort of punishment for sharing the same city. “I have to deal with the media, traffic and playing in a town that shares its loyalties to two ball clubs,” the players seemed to be saying. “That's the price you pay for playing in New York.”And with Martinez's answer in the books, most of the reporters left the room, somewhat dismayed that they had to focus on the game itself instead of the difference between the Mets and Yankees, which for a sports writer is like covering a war, the Holy Grail of reporting. “I said from the beginning that it was all bull,” Mets manager Willie Randolph said following Sunday's series finale. “The whole stuff about who's Pedro's daddy. He said that in jest. It was a joke for him. I don't think he thinks the Yankees are his daddy. When you face him, you have to battle. We feel that we could have swept them this weekend. This season is a long grind, so you don't want to waste all your energy on one series.”So what did we learn about the Mets? Nothing we didn't know already. The Mets are a good – but not great – team, a work in progress. They still follow the Yankees around in the hearts of most New Yorkers, although the Subway Series had enough drama in it to fill a note pad. With the addition of Martinez, the youngsters David Wright and Jose Reyes patrolling the left side of the infield, and a hometown manager running the team in Willie Randolph, the Mets are suddenly the fashionable team to root for. They're cut-off jeans and the Olsen Twins. They are the curiosity, while the Yankees, because of the sheer money that has been invested in them, are like a good book that you can't put down. You want to see what this incredible machine can do. Will Randy Johnson dominate? Is Alex Rodriguez still one of the best players in baseball. Can Jason Giambi reclaim his past greatness, and on and on.The Mets, with the recent acquisition of Carlos Beltran and Martinez, are beginning to approach that type of interest, but, compared to the Yankees, who seem to have found their groove, they're still an unfinished product. Can you blame the Mets for wanting to change the subject?Reach reporter Mitch Abramson by E-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 130.
