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Mariners vs. Yankees |
Mets vs. Cardinals
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Wednesday, October 11
Straight out of Brooklyn
By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- Maybe it's because he's from Brooklyn and the attitude flows naturally. Or maybe it's because it was cold. Or maybe the team bus got caught in Manhattan traffic on the way to Yankee Stadium and his nerves were fried.
Whatever the case, John Halama, Seattle's Game 2 starter, was in little mood to deal with the New York media prior to Tuesday night's ALCS opener.
|  | | John Halama was 9-4 in his home whites this year, but just 5-5 with a 6.10 ERA on the road. |
His answers were unfriendly, curt and resembled a personality more common with an anti-media star like Barry Bonds than a second-year player whose biggest brush with fame was being a player to be named later in the Randy Johnson trade.
But there was the 28-year-old Halama in an interview room filled with black and white photos of Yankees past, showing little fear for the challenge that awaits him and his teammates. Even the frequently ruthless New York media, flashbulbs, television cameras and notebooks in hand, couldn't crack Halama, who in his 10 minutes on the podium had an answer for everything, no matter how long or short it was.
Take this soft starter for example, on a question offered up by a gentleman in the back of the room looking to break the ice between the 6-5 Halama and the quote-hunting group.
Question: How have you done against the Yankees in the past?
Halama: "You guys have the statistics. Look at them."
The question-askers should have known something was up at that point, because Halama didn't elaborate. That was all he said. But we didn't catch on quite yet. So we tried again, switching the subject to something a little more personal, away from the field.
Question: Do you have a lot of family here at the game?
Halama: "Just mother, father, fiancèe's family. That's it."
Ahh -- a talker. Maybe prior to leaving the Mariner locker room, Halama was warned by former Yankee player/manager/general manager Lou Piniella about watching what he says to the New York media. Not that Halama needed the reminder, having grown up in Brooklyn and all.
Next question: How do you feel about going up against (Orlando) Hernandez, being that he has such a great postseason record?
Halama: "Well, I'm not pitching against Hernandez. I'm pitching against the Yankees. Hernandez's history speaks for itself. I'm just going to try to get the Yankees out."
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I'm not really a big baseball fan. I've played it. I love playing the game. But I don't watch baseball at all. I don't read the sports sections. I don't watch ESPN. ” |
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— John Halama |
By this point, people in the interview room were either insulted by Halama's stereotypical New Yorker personality or fascinated by it. So the topic switched to Halama's childhood. After all, this was a kid who grew up in Brooklyn, so he had to adore either the Yankees or the Mets. What a better way to get him to open up that talking about his favorite childhood team, right? Wrong.
Question: Growing up in Brooklyn, were you a Yankees fan or a Mets fan?
Halama: "I have been a Met fan."
That was it -- still no luck. Maybe Halama just had his blinders on preparing for Wednesday's start against the Yankees, certainly the biggest in his young career. He was scheduled to start Game 4 against the White Sox, but when the Mariners swept the series in three games, it pushed Halama back to the ALCS.
In one of his better interview answers, Halama shared this about the 10 day lay-off between Wednesday and his last start on Sept. 30:
"I think physically I'm as ready as possible. Mentally, I'm as ready as possible. It's the postseason. It's not the regular season. There's going to be some pressures. I'm going to have some nerves. Hopefully I can get over them quickly and just get on with the game."
Halama, who qualifies as a left-handed finesse pitcher in the mode of teammate Jamie Moyer, is someone who needs to pick at the corners of the plate and change speeds in order to be successful. He did just that in the spring, starting the season 6-0 in his first nine starts. It was a critical performance at the time, as Moyer and Freddy Garcia were out with injuries.
The case is similar Wednesday, with Moyer out with a broken kneecap. However, Garcia pitched Seattle to a 2-0 victory in the opener, taking some of the pressure of Halama.
"He has basically been there for us all year," Piniella said of Halama, who finished the regular season 14-9 with a 5.08 E.R.A. "The last two years, this man has won, what, 26 ballgames? That's pretty darn good."
Halama was the player to be named later that Seattle acquired in the 1998 trade of Randy Johnson to the Astros (Garcia and infielder Carlos Guillen were also acquired in the deal). Two months after the deal was completed at the last second of the July 31 trading deadline, when the fire was just starting to die down in Seattle, the Mariners picked up Halama. Now, the 23rd-round draft pick out of St. Francis (N.Y.) College is starting Game 2 of the ALCS in Yankee Stadium, just across the East River from his old stomping grounds. That brought up this exchange.
Question: Did you ever come to Yankee Stadium?
Halama: "No."
Question: Never?
Halama: "Never came to Yankee Stadium. Went to one Met game my whole life."
At this point, the moderator announces there are just a few questions remaining, but everyone is locked in on Halama. How could the professional baseball player, a self-proclaimed Mets fan, grow up in New York, in Brooklyn nonetheless, and only see the Mets play once?
One bold reporter pressed on, in search of the answer.
Question: Where did you live in Brooklyn?
Halama: "I live in Brooklyn."
Question: Where?
Halama (irritated): "It's irrelevant."
The reporter, unflustered: How does a Mets fan live in Brooklyn and not go to more than just one game?
Halama, in grand finishing fashion: "I'm not really a big baseball fan. I've played it. I love playing the game. But I don't watch baseball at all. I don't read the sports sections. I don't watch ESPN. It's not me."
So there you have it. That's why this whole Yankee Stadium, Monument Park, ghost of Ruth, Yankee dynasty is no big deal to Halama. He doesn't buy into the media hype. Born and raised in Brooklyn, a Mets fan (although apparently not a diehard), and he doesn't even watch baseball. If that carefree attitude is genuine, the Yankee fans yelling from the mezzanine won't get to him, the New York hitters won't get to him and best of all, the media won't get to him.
And if he wasn't genuine? The flashbulbs, television cameras and notebooks will all be in front of his locker Wednesday night, waiting for Halama's take on what went wrong.
Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com.
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