The tradition before each postseason game is for the starting pitcher for the next night to hold court in a pregame press conference.

Pedro Martinez, the Phillies' Game 2 starter, talked for nearly a half hour. He used the time to call out the New York press corps for how they've treated him over the years and spoke about his 2003 incident with former Yankees coach Don Zimmer for the first time.

"I think in every aspect, the way you guys have used me and abused me since I've been coming to (town), just because I wore actually a red uniform just like this one while playing for Boston, it's been like -- I remember quotes in the paper, "Here comes the man that New York loves to hate." Man? None of you have probably ever eaten steak with me or rice and beans with me to understand what the man is about. You might say the player, the competitor, but the man? You guys have abused my name. You guys have said so many things, have written so many things.

"There was one time I remember when I was a free agent, there was talk that I might meet with Steinbrenner. One of your colleagues had me in the papers with horns and a tail, red horns and a tail. That's a sign of the devil. I'm a Christian man. I don't like those things. I take those things very serious.


"Those are the kind of things that the fans actually get used to seeing, and actually sometimes influence those people to believe that you are a bad person, that you are like an ogre. I see Mariano, and that's probably the player I admire the most because of how he goes about his business, how he does it, and he remains a humble Christian man admired by everyone in baseball.

"The way people perceive me in New York, I don't know if they got to know me a little bit better after I got to the Mets. It's totally different than the way I am; I just compete. And yes, I will do whatever it takes to beat you. But I'm a human being after I take my clothes off. A lot of people can witness that any time, anywhere, any moment."