Jose Mesa wants to kill Omar Vizquel. Just because Omar says Mesa choked in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series. Hey Jose, just because we Indians fans had been waiting 43 years for a chance to sit atop the baseball world just once, doesn't mean we take it personally or anything, you BUM.
Ninth inning, one run lead, Game Seven, World Series. Our CLOSER on the mound. Millions of long-suffering Tribe fans with their hearts in their throats. You blow the save. You probably think nobody feels worse about it than you do. What would you know? You don't even "work" here anymore.
Now a future Hall of Famer who still wears the Wahoo writes a few honest words in a book about how you seemed totally out of it when he came to the mound to talk to you in that ninth inning situation, and you want to kill him. And the reporter who interviewed you said you weren't being sarcastic or joking, but that you seemed dead serious. Nice.
First of all, you're a big guy. Your left leg and half your ass weighs more than Omar. But you know something....I don't think you even want to fight Omar one-on-one. I think you want to stand out on the mound and throw a baseball at his head like you did last year. You drilled him between the shoulder blades with a 90-something fastball in a meaningless late-game situation. That took courage.
You have told people in the six intervening years that you were ashamed and humiliated by the experience of losing that lead in the Series. Hey, you're sorry, Omar's sorry, we're all freakin' sorry that the Indians lost the game and that we're still waiting for that World Series championship. But gosh, we're sorry that your fragile ego took a beating, and we understand that now you're looking to "shoot the messenger" to make yourself feel better.
You were a great closer for two or three years there. We would never have been in either the '95 or '97 Series without you. I'm sorry you've had to struggle through the last few years making a few million a year to play a boy's game, after all you've been through.
I see you've even involved your young son in your blood feud. I'm quoting you here, "Even my little boy told me to get him". Nice touch. He probably came up with that all by himself.
Omar's couldn't help taking note of the weight differential should there be a fight between them. "I'm a flyweight. He's a heavyweight."
But then he added, "if that's what he wants, he knows where to find me"
UPDATE: Seems Major League Baseball is going to do something of an investigation of Mesa's threats
Posted by dan at March 11, 2003 08:29 PMIsn't there a law against threatening someone with death. If not there should be. John Kruk, the former Philly's player when asked, "why would a wealthy athlete ever want to write a book", he responded, " because they are stupid". This is true in David Wells's book and Omar's. Why would Omar want to inflame Jose'. We know his gun was confiscated in Cleveland, but he was rumored to be hanging-out with Robert Blake in So. Calf.
Posted by: Gary Gemberling at March 12, 2003 02:13 PM