Braves’ Simon Says Rocker Targeted Him

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic —  Atlanta Brave first baseman Randall Simon says he knows John Rocker was talking about him when he described a teammate as a “fat monkey” in a Sports Illustrated interview.

And he says Rocker’s explanation of the comment as merely clubhouse humor is a lie.

“I swear to you if he said that to my face I’d tear him up, and one of us would be suspended right now,” Simon said Saturday in an interview with Morris News Service. “When I joke, I don’t try to make somebody feel bad. He knows too. We don’t joke like that.

“He knows we’ve never had a relationship like that. He has no relationships with the black guys or the Latin guys on the team. He’s lying to try and cover himself. He has a lot of guts to say that.”