Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Sox, April 13, 2002 v. New York Yankees

pedro martinez
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Martinez Overcomes Rough First Inning, Holds New York At Bay While Red Sox Rally Hillenbrand’s Blast Off Rivera Caps 8th Inning Comeback Boston Wins 7-6, Yankees Lose 4th In a Row, Red Sox Claim First Place

Saturday, April 13, 2002
New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox
Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts

Pedro’s Line

Box Score and play-by-play

Pedro shows game face
Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald

He is growing stubborn again, quarrelsome, even a little pushy. He is starting to glare at umpires and bully opposing hitters, and when his manager comes out to remove him from a game, he is starting to get that look.

The results are still lagging for Pedro Martinez, but the edge appears to be coming back. “I saw it in his eyes that he had no apprehension about doing anything besides pitching,” Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek said of his battery mate following yesterday’s dramatic 7-6 Sox win over the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. “You could see it in his eyes. He was aggressive and he didn’t hold anything back.”

He used to be great; now he’s Pitch-count Pedro
Bill Reynolds, Providence Journal

Here are the numbers: Three hits, five runs, seven strikeouts, three walks, one wild pitch and two hit batters, 102 pitches, 59 for strikes. Five and one-third innings of work.

They lie there as cold and unemotional as notations on a ledger sheet. But what do they mean? That was the question with Pedro Martinez yesterday. That’s always the question with Pedro these days, the new reality he now lives in.

Hillenbrand homer gives Red Sox victory
Ian Browne, mlb.com

Give Mariano Rivera any kind of lead, and it’s usually safe for fans to beat the traffic. But Fenway Park remained packed to the final row of the bleachers Saturday, even as Rivera came in with a 6-4 lead. And the standing-room-only crowd of 33,756 got a moment they won’t soon forget. …

“I don’t think there was a problem [in the first inning],” Martinez said. “They just jumped at me right away. I hit Giambi, I made some tough pitches to Bernie that were close. They just had good at bats. Posada hit a pitch that should have been a little more in, but it was still a good pitch. I just have to give them credit.”

Martinez settled down after the first, enabling the Sox to get back into the game. “I felt really fine the last two innings. Even when I came out of the game, I didn’t want to come out — I was feeling better and better each inning. My fastball seems to be coming along. Everything felt better.

Pedro settles in as Red Sox break out
Mike Petraglia, mlb.com

Red Sox manager Grady Little knows the days of sitting back and letting Pedro Martinez do all the work are, for the most part, in the past. The first inning was downright ugly for Martinez and the sellout crowd of 33,756 that came out to Fenway Park. … Indeed, Martinez settled into his rhythm after his rocky first. The highlight of his outing came in the fifth, when he struck out Williams, Giambi and Posada in order. “I actually felt really, really fine the last two innings. Even when I came out of the game, I didn’t feel like coming out. I was feeling better and better each inning. My fastball seems to be coming along. Everything, including my groove, felt better overall.”

Screen gem — Hillenbrand HR nets him starring role in win
Bob Hohler, Boston Globe

They looked like slap-happy Little Leaguers, as Brian Daubach jumped on Jason Varitek’s back, Carlos Baerga belly-womped Ugueth Urbina, and nearly everyone else in a Red Sox uniform frolicked on the emerald lawn in the Fens as if they had just won the biggest game of their lives – and clinched an all-expenses-paid trip to the Dairy Queen to boot.  Who says it’s only April?

Slow-starting Martinez gains steam
Bob Hohler, Boston Globe

It’s not often Pedro Martinez starts a game, especially against the Yankees, and winds up part of the subplot. But Martinez is not the pitcher he used to be – or soon hopes to be again. …

Martinez surrendered only one hit after the first, as he went 5.1 innings and threw 105 pitches, improving along the way. He struck out the side in the fifth and believed he had fanned Rondell White for the second out of the sixth. But plate ump Fieldin Culbreth disagreed, calling the 3-2 pitch a ball, which prompted manager Grady Little to yank Martinez. … “I’m feeling more comfortable with my shoulder. Now, I’m getting the rush to just continue to pitch, even though I have to be patient.”

Ace lights the match
George Kimball, Boston Herald

In the whole spectrum of Red Sox-Yankee wars, what happened yesterday barely rates as a minor skirmish, but give credit to plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth, whose quick intervention helped keep passions from boiling over into something uglier.

After Pedro Martinez hit Jason Giambi with pitches on the first baseman’s first two trips to the plate, Yankees starter David Wells retaliated by firing a third-inning purpose pitch behind Trot Nixon’s back. Culbreth immediately pointed toward Wells, and then to the Red Sox dugout, putting both sides on notice that the next knockdown pitch would spell ejection.

Pedro shows game face
Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald

He is growing stubborn again, quarrelsome, even a little pushy. He is starting to glare at umpires and bully opposing hitters, and when his manager comes out to remove him from a game, he is starting to get that look. The results are still lagging for Pedro Martinez, but the edge appears to be coming back.

“I saw it in his eyes that he had no apprehension about doing anything besides pitching,” Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek said of his battery mate following yesterday’s dramatic 7-6 Sox win over the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. “You could see it in his eyes. He was aggressive and he didn’t hold anything back.”

Hillenbrand burns Yanks
Steven Krasner, Providence Journal

A year ago, when Boston’s Shea Hillenbrand was turning impatience at the plate into an art form, he faced the New York Yankees’ ace closer, Mariano Rivera, four times. “No chance,” said Hillenbrand, recounting his 2001 failures against Rivera. So yesterday, when Hillenbrand was allowed to hit against Rivera with the tying run at second base and two outs in the eighth, he wasn’t exactly feeling overconfident. “Against him, I wasn’t expecting to succeed.” … And, as Hillenbrand explained it, he was almost having an out-of-body experience. “An aura came over me. It was weird.”

Red Sox pick up Pedro, dust of Yanks again: Rally propels team into first
Jeff Horrigan, Boston Herald

Throughout his career as arguably the best pitcher of his era, Pedro Martinez has suffered from inferior run support due to the inevitable tendencies of teammates to subconsciously become a bit too at ease on the days he pitches. With one of the all-time best on the mound, it was only natural that they felt less pressure to produce at the plate, and it often translated into low-scoring affairs that Martinez typically won.

Red Sox wins have hopes soaring in Boston
Mike Bauman, mlb.com

It has been one of those all-things-are-possible baseball weekends in New England. Then again, it is only April. And the weekend isn’t over. But for the moment, the joy is unrestrained on Yawkey Way. The mighty New York Yankees have been beaten twice, and in the space of roughly 18 hours. … 

So Shea Hillenbrand hits a two-run home run to beat Rivera and the Yankees, 7-6. It was a majestic shot over the Green Monster in left, a real no-doubter. The answer to the question: “Shea who?” is that he is a second-year third baseman who has apparently transformed his career by becoming more patient at the plate. Right now, of course, he is also the anti-Bucky Dent. Rivera threw Hillenbrand five straight fastballs. “But they weren’t straight,” Hillenbrand helpfully noted. The fifth one left the premises, sending the capacity crowd of 33,756 into a kind of sustained delirium. … Happy is the man whose reality exceeds the general level of expectations.

Good Start In Spring Has Sox In Step
Jeff Jacobs, Hartford Courant

Grady Little came out to get Pedro Martinez in the top of the sixth inning, and the manager with a voice sweeter than Tupelo honey needed all his sweetness to pry the ball from his pitcher’s right hand. Pedro didn’t want to leave. And, really, who could blame him? …

Sure, he had gotten smacked around for four runs in the first, but he had retired 11 of the previous 14 batters and hadn’t given up a hit in 3.2 innings. The fifth, in fact, had been pure Pedro. Pedro, raw. Pedro, 100 proof. Pedro chewing on the dead worm from the bottom of the bottle. He struck out Bernie Williams waving at a 95 mph fastball. He struck out Jason Giambi looking at a 94 mph fastball on the outside corner. He struck out Jorge Posada, vainly trying to check his swing at 95-mph heat.

So Pedro put on his Red Sox jacket, stuck around and watched. He didn’t shower. He didn’t pack up and leave. He sat and watched. And what Pedro saw made him wonder, made his team wonder, made New England wonder.

Pedro senses progress
Garry Brown, Springfield Union-News

Although Pedro Martinez had what would qualify as a shaky first inning in his start against the New York Yankees yesterday, he insisted that it wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked. Boston Red Sox manager Grady Little and catcher Jason Varitek concurred. All three agreed that Pitchin’ Pedro had a few tough calls and made two bad pitches. It all added up to a 4-0 Yankee lead, but Pedro hung in there. …

“I was able to settle down, because I was feeling OK physically and throwing the ball well,” he said. “I kept feeling better and better as the game went, and I hated to come out. … That last pitch to Rondell really hurt me, because the umpire (Fieldin Culbreth). It should called it a strike. It was over the plate, not high, not low, but right where it should be. Yet it was the one that got me out of the game. … Really, I think I pitched better today than I did in Baltimore.”

Shaky Sox good enough for first place
Art Davidson, MetroWest Daily News

Maybe it’s time to finally put the misery of last season in the past. At least for now, they are the first-place Red Sox. Even the fact that more questions were raised about Pedro Martinez’s effectiveness doesn’t spoil what occurred at Fenway Park yesterday.

Hillenbrand’s Home Run Stuns Yanks
Tyler Kepner, New York Times

The World Series ended the last time Mariano Rivera blew a save, and today the consequences were not nearly so severe. But the manner in which the Boston Red Sox beat Rivera this afternoon was stunning, the go-ahead hit so much more forceful than Luis Gonzalez’s bloop single in Game 7 last November. …

There was much for the Yankees to regret about this game, from their failure to capitalize on four first-inning runs off Pedro Martinez to their continued shaky defense. But the game turned on the homer by Hillenbrand, a hot hitter who seemed overmatched one pitch before. Rivera blew a 94-mile-an-hour fastball past him to bring the count to 2-2. His next pitch came in at 95 m.p.h., but it was belt-high and not far enough inside.

“I was trying to go with the same pitch, but tighter, more inside. I guess he was waiting for that pitch.” Hillenbrand, who has a hit in every game this season for Boston (6-3), blistered the pitch into the netting above the Green Monster, capping a four-run rally off three pitchers.

For Once, Sox Give Pedro Lift
Roger Rubin, New York Daily News 

Usually Pedro Martinez carries the Red Sox. In yesterday’s 7-6 win over the Yankees at Fenway Park, it was the other way around. But his teammates are sure that’s a fluke. … But after an awful first when he gave up four runs, Martinez kept the Yanks scoreless until the sixth. “It’s going to take teamwork if we’re going to beat the Yankees,” Martinez said. “They do the little things. They do the big things … you have to put everything together. I believe that if we continue to play the way we have and my team continues to react the way they did today, the Yankees are going to have a tough time beating us, too.”

Bombers in Trouble if Pedro Regains Old Form
Joel Sherman, New York Post

The Yankees and Red Sox are playing, and it is Boston showing all the poise and magic. … It is only April, but the Yanks had a chance this weekend to crush the spirits of, perhaps, the only team capable of making the AL East a race. … Boston is not expected to hang with the Yanks if Pedro Martinez is less than the planet’s best pitcher. Yesterday, though, Martinez was less than Darren Oliver, yet the Red Sox won dramatically, 7-6, anyway.

Another Beantown Bummer for Yanks
George King, New York Post

It will return but the feeling of invincibility that surrounded the Yankees since Opening Day has vanished. The moment Shea Hillenbrand’s two-run homer in the eighth inning nestled into the mesh above Fenway Park’s Green Monster yesterday, the Yankees were as vulnerable as any other baseball team.

An Unusual Day from 1st to Last
Ken Davidoff, Newsday

They jumped out to a four-run lead in the first inning on Pedro Martinez, a most impressive accomplishment. Then the Yankees handled that gift as casually as if it were Tupperware. How fitting, then, that their No. 1 savior gave it all away for good yesterday. … “Games like that, you can’t be doing that stuff,” said Rivera, who had been 4-for-4 in save opportunities this season. “It hurts when I see my teammates battling there to get me the lead and I come in there and blow the game. It’s not fun. It hurts me.”

Yanks Already Defensive Over Lack of Fielding
Bill Madden, New York Daily News

Is it too early to put the champagne on hold? Here, in Red Sox Nation, the new and improved Yankees have suddenly — and shockingly — shown themselves to be quite mortal. The team of gluttony that restocked its lineup, fortified its bullpen, upgraded its bench, brought back David Wells to its starting rotation and ran its payroll to a major league high $126 million has now lost four games in a row and has been knocked out of first place by the Red Sox.

We watched this Yankee team bolt out of the starting gate 7-1, mostly because of its superb starting pitching, and the only question we had about it was whether it would win the American League East by 10 games or 20. … We did not take into account the fact that the Yankees were racking up all those victories against the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Dominant Martinez Remains a No-Show
Jack Curry, New York Times

He has a needy team, a revamped organization and an entire baseball-crazed town analyzing everything he does. With Pedro Martinez, every fastball, every facial expression and every fist pump is scrutinized. When Martinez opposes the Yankees, the intensity soars even higher. We have Pedro, the Red Sox faithful believe, and that is enough to guide us.

The Red Sox had Pedro to supposedly guide them at Fenway Park yesterday. Because of Martinez and a dash of momentum from their victory Friday night, they believed. They believed Pedro would embarrass Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi and, even if the season is less than two weeks old, guide Boston into first place. That is always a reason to celebrate here, regardless of the date.

Yankees can’t believe eyes
Howard Bryant, Bergen Record

To a man in the Yankee clubhouse, seeing Mariano Rivera give up a big home run is so rare a sight, most guys have never seen it. To find the last time he blew a big game giving up a home run, you’d probably have to go back to 1997, his first year as a closer.

Red Sox rally against Rivera in eighth
Associated Press

Mariano Rivera sat by himself in the dugout and threw his hands in the air. A brief fit of frustration, but an uncommon display for a dominant closer who rarely fails — and shows emotion even rarer still. “When you don’t do your job with the lead that we had, how can you be happy?” Rivera said Saturday after Shea Hillenbrand’s eighth-inning homer gave the Red Sox a 7-6 victory over New York and sent the Yankees to their fourth consecutive loss.

Pre-Game

Martinez ready to take next step
Jim Greenidge, Boston Globe

When Pedro Martinez takes the mound at Fenway Park this afternoon against the Yankees, he will be looking to progress one more step in a season that has begun tentatively. … “I feel comfortable with that additional weight.

I got that by doing plenty of lifting. I did a lot of swimming, worked out with the medicine ball, as well as with my aerobics. This is the first year when I’ve lifted weights. … I know myself. The people who are wondering just how good I am don’t love me more than I love myself. It’s going to happen again, and I’m going to do it without pitching in pain again.”

Pedro on up and up
Jeff Horrigan, Boston Herald

Grady Little said that Pedro Martinez will have his pitch count upped to 100-105 pitches today, when he faces David Wells at Fenway. Martinez threw 84 pitches on Opening Day and 85 last Sunday.

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