Yanks Will Pitch Inside To Utley

The New York Yankees hinted on Tuesday they want to make Chase Utley “uncomfortable” at the plate. One problem: the Phiilies'  Pedro Martinez is the master of pitching tight and inside.

Yankess catcher Jorge Posada raised a few eyebrows on Tuesday when he said the Yankees were going inside on Utley, who has killed the Yankees in the World Series.

“We have left a lot of pitches in the middle of the plate. He has put damage on them. He feels good at the plate. We need to really make him feel probably a little bit more uncomfortable, and make the pitches where they're supposed to be,” Posada said.

That quote by itself doesn’t mean much by itself, but in the world of baseball, it’s a clear signal to the Phillies that the Yankess will be throwing inside to Utley.

And accidents do happen in baseball.

The Yankees are mad that Alex Rodriguez has been hit three times in the World Series.

The Phillies are mad A.J. Burnett hit Shane Victorino and almost broke his hand in the first inning of Game 5.

The Yankees are convinced only Utley and Cliff Lee are keeping them from a World Series title. And Lee isn’t playing in Game 6.

Add to the mix the catalyst, one Pedro Martinez. The same Pedro who started the Don Zimmer brawl in 2003 by drilling Karim Garcia with a pitch.

The same Pedro who famously told New Yorkers, “ Wake up the Bambino. I’ll drill him in the ass.”

The anger toward Martinez as a beanball pitcher is New York is palpable.

Zimmer told a Florida newspaper last week that he doesn’t accept Pedro’s version of the brawl story, in which Martinez said Zimmer tried to punch him and insulted his mother.

"Pedro is full of crap," Zimmer told the St. Petersburg Times. "It's what, six years later? If Pedro wants to be a big man, I don't care what he says."