BASEBALL DAILY REPORT

He hasn’t bumped an umpire and hasn’t charged a dugout this season. So yes, Stottlemyre says, he believes his emotions are more under control now when he is pitching. But ask him how he feels about the mayor of Philadelphia challenging his prowess as a pitcher, and you will raise Stottlemyre’s ire.

“When this is all over, I will reach into my pocket and fly to Philly, and you can tell the mayor to put a uniform on,” Stottlemyre said.

who will pitch tonight in Game 4.

Ed Rendell, Philadelphia’s mayor, was quoted recently as saying: “I’d like to get up against that Stottlemyre. If Frank Thomas can hit one 443 feet, I can hit one 270.”

After posting a regular-season record of 11-12, Stottlemyre gave up six runs in six innings and lost Game 4 of the American League playoffs against Chicago. He has a 0-3 record in four playoff starts, dating back to 1989, but pitched well in his four relief appearances during last year’s World Series.

“I’m sure nine-tenths of you guys have already called Vegas and have gotten the odds against me (for Game 4), but it doesn’t matter if you believe me or the mayor believes in me,” Stottlemyre said. “It’s what Todd believes, and I believe in Todd.”

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Philadelphia’s Jim Eisenreich, who takes medication daily for Tourette’s Syndrome, a neurological disorder, says his teammates constantly are on him about it. “They are always joking with me, saying, ‘You’re supposed to get up for a game, not go down,’ ” he said.

Eisenreich added that when he learned that he had the condition, it was a big weight off his shoulders.

“I said, ‘There are other people like this, too?’ ” he said. “I would be driving around by myself and the ticks would come. The symptoms were bad from high school (on). It was embarrassing. And here I was playing a game that I loved and was not able to relax while I was doing it.”