"Pedro Martinez, scheduled to start for the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night in Game 2 of the World Series, always has had a colorful history with the fans in the Bronx.

On Wednesday, the 38-year-old three-time Cy Young Award winner added another chapter with some interesting comments during his pregame news conference.

Martinez expressed his feelings on the now infamous ``Who's your daddy?'' chants New York Yankees fans pelted him with during the 2004 American League Championship Series, his on-field brawl with former Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer in the 2003 ALCS and the way the New York media ``demonized'' him.

``I don't know if you realize this, but because of you guys in some ways, I might be at times the most influential player that ever stepped in Yankee Stadium,'' Martinez said. ``After playing in New York [for the Mets], I [realized] something: New York fans are very passionate and very aggressive. But after it all, after you take your uniform off and you deal with the people, they're real human beings. It's all just being fans.

``I have all the respect in the world for the way they enjoy being fans. Sometimes they might be giving you the middle finger, just like they will be cursing you and telling you what color underwear you're wearing. All those things you can hear when you're a fan. But at the end of the day, they're just great fans that want to see the team win. I don't have any problem with that.''

Martinez, 6-2 with a 3.13 ERA in 12 career postseason starts, might be looking for a little compassion from Yankees fans. But he wasn't from the media. He cited several stories, photos and headlines, and said he was ``used and abused.''

``There was one time I remember when I was a free agent, there was talk that I might meet with [Yankees owner George] Steinbrenner. One of your colleagues had me in the papers with red horns and a tail,'' Martinez said. ``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 . . . the way people perceive me in New York, it's totally different than the way I am. I will do whatever it takes to beat you. But I'm a human being after I take my clothes off.''"