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More from Bronson on A-Rod. My favorite part:

The two had a brief exchange after the infamous slap play in Game 6.

"[A-Rod] was talking to the umpire like 10 minutes after the play," said Arroyo, "and they had already called him out forever ago and I was just kind of looking over at him and smirking. And he said to the umpire, `Look, he's laughing at you because you made the wrong call.' "

HAHAHA <3. That is all.

Oh, and for those of you who are so inclined: This article is way slashy. *beats plot bunnies to death with stick*

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Your Daily Update. Never thought I'd say this about any chapter of the Everyone Hates A-Rod Saga, but I'm getting kind of sick of this. Again: I wish A-Rod would either comment or publicly refuse to comment. Except that anything he'd say would just start everything all over again. But at least it would be new.

I couldn't find a copy of today's Boston Herald, so I'll just have to work with whatever content they've bothered put online.

One of the sports columnists, Karen Guregian, has weighed in. Her column says, basically, that the entire thing has definitely been about lashing out at A-Rod specifically, and the Sox are kind of leaving the Yankees out of it.

A separate article, which has new pitcher Matt Mantei's take on the whole thing, quotes Mantei as saying that he has no problem with A-Rod, but that the Yankees are evil and everyone hates them.

Now there's some brilliant ironic timing right there.

But seriously? How desperate are the Boston media getting for new material on this when they're bugging Matt Mantei? WTF does Matt Mantei have to do with price of tea in China? At least David Wells, as a former Yankee, was vaguely relevant, but now things are just getting silly. I don't mean to rag on Mantei here, by the way. Just the press.

For completeness's sake, Mantei's comments:

* The Yankees: "You've got to have a clubhouse where everybody gets along and really wants to battle for each other and win. It might be what they're lacking. There are a lot of big egos, a lot of big guys in that clubhouse. Everybody [in the Red Sox clubhouse; clarification mine] is here for the same purpose, to play for each other. They're not here to play for themselves." (This is pretty close to what I've said in the past: The Red Sox are a team. The Yankees are just twenty-five guys who play baseball together. A difference that proved crucial indeed.) "I don't have anybody I dislike over there. [...] I just don't like the Yankees - the name. Everybody in here is like that. Everybody wants to beat the Yankees."

* A-Rod: "I like A-Rod, I think he's a nice guy. He does a lot of good things for the community and children, and stuff like that and I think that's pretty impressive to do what he does." Like I said. Completeness's sake. Note that the shiny new guy is also the only Red Sox player to say anything nice about A-Rod. Just pointing it out. Also giving him points for (again) class, because - he's the only Red Sox player to say anything nice about A-Rod even if it was vague and embarrassingly squishy. He could've gone along with the rest, and he didn't. Good for him.

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Oh, and Kevin Millar had a few entertainingly incomprehensible things to say about how A-Rod is a useless prat and Jeter is the epitome of professionalism (my words, obviously; I love Kevin but I seriously doubt that he could pronounce "epitome"), but I'm not getting into it because a) I'm not kidding about the "incomprehensible" part, and b) A-Rod lives.

Looks like I posted too soon before. Thanks again go to piney61 for this link (which must have come while I was writing my last post) to an article in which A-Rod kind of, sort of responds.

I hate to admit it, but he starts off well here. The first couple of quotes seem like the sort of diplomatic, graceful stuff he was saying this time last year that made me like him. Even if they are utterly lacking in substance. It gets ugly fast, though.

* "As far as earning your stripes, I really couldn't agree (more) with Trot Nixon and the guys that have said that because hopefully in due time, when I pay the price like Paul O'Neill and Roger Clemens did, then the fans of New York would realize that, hopefully, I'm a Yankee." I love that second "hopefully." Hopefully, he's a Yankee. I assume he meant it to apply to the fans hopefully realizing, but instead he cast doubt in whether or not even he thinks he's a Yankee. That's beautiful. (And the word "hopefully" has temporarily lost all meaning. Thanks, Alex!)

* On the Yankees doing shit-all to back him up: "It just tells you how classy our organization is. Our players, they don't get caught up in that everyday stuff. And I appreciate their position. I'm going to say the same thing, probably. They'll say that I'm not supporting myself. And that will probably be a big story, too." It's a nice effort, but not a damn thing in that paragraph makes any sense. And I laugh at the idea of Alex Rodriguez recognizing class. Listen, A-Rod: They didn't have your back. That's the long and short of it. They were happy to go on about being such pals with David Wells, but not a damn one of them spoke up for you.

But whatever. They were both cool things to say, and he gets credit for that, and he could even come out of it looking good if the article ended right there.

Sadly (?), it does not.

* "I think all of this is good for the game, believe it or not, as funny as it may be." I gotta wonder how that originally sounded in his head. I'm sure it made more sense there.

* He takes blame yet AGAIN for the ALCS loss, because it's not like there are twenty-four other guys on the team who choked, or another twenty-five that just happened to get it together and play some good ball. Nope. All about A-Rod. He lost that series ALL BY HIMSELF. He's just that special.

* He also makes a point of mentioning his daughter. I bet anything he mentioned her more often than the article has quoted. It hurts me that this man has procreated. I hope his wife can provide a healthy counterbalance, or this kid is so fucked.

* He once again defends the Infamous Slap: "I thought it was a brilliant play. We almost got away with it. I was stuck in an alley, boys, there was no place to go. And I gave my karate. I only got to yellow belt, but I gave them my karate. And, again, I think Brandon's a great pitcher. I played with him in high school." I don't even know where to start here. Karate? Brandon? Excuse me, I have to go die laughing now . . . okay, I'm back. Oops, nope, dying again. The more I read it, the funnier it gets. Because - I think A-Rod has confused "karate" with "girliest slap ever not executed by an actual girl." And screwing up Bronson's name. First of all, Tim McCarver much? Second of all, what a delightfully junior high tactic.

And Bronson's scaaaaared too, as indicated by his response to this: "It's probably intentional, I would think. I heard he's a student of the game. It could have been a simple mistake, but I doubt it. Who knows? Maybe he thinks I'm a nobody." I'm sure this will keep Bronson awake at night.

I also like how A-Rod ever-so-casually says, "I played with him in high school." Like we don't all know that you only remember that because Bronson talked about it two days ago. What a fake.

Nice of him to provide me with my new e-mail sig file, though.

And that's pretty much it, really. There's some more stuff, but it's all along the lines of The Woes Of Being A-Rod and nothing he hasn't said eight hundred times since October. And it's all a load of crap. He is a fake and a poser and every time he tries to come off as The Nice Guy, everything he says is useless fluff. Man, I hate this guy.

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HAHAHA this is just what I've been saying all week. I'm beginning to love the New York Post. If it would just start arriving on time instead of a day late (I don't understand, none of the other out-of-state papers do this), I might actually start reading it.