But it was the crazy-haired Martinez and Damon, with some nice defensive help from Ramirez and Reese, who combined to propel the Sox last night past the San Diego Padres in a 1-0 nail-biter before 35,205 at Fenway Park.
"The league definitely has paid attention to our hair," Damon said. "Hopefully, they know how well we've been playing, too."
How could they not after the masterwork Martinez submitted and the winning hit Damon delivered to spoil San Diego's inaugural visit to the Fens?
In his finest outing of the season, Martinez blanked the Padres on two hits, a walk and a hit batsman over eight innings, putting Damon in position to contribute. And Damon did just that, rifling a double into the right-field corner with two outs in the seventh inning to drive in Gabe Kapler with the game's only run.
"Thank goodness, or we might still be playing," said the hair-challenged Boston manager, Terry Francona.
Kapler, who currently favors Francona's shaved-scalp look, cleared the way for Damon's winning hit by lofting a towering double off the Monster with one out and moving to third on pinch hitter Brian Daubach's fly to right.
For Kapler, the Mr. Clean approach worked just fine.
"It feels good not to have any hair, especially when it's this warm," he said. "I can put on my motorcycle helmet and I don't have to worry about my hair."
Nor did the Sox need to worry much about the Padres, thanks largely to Martinez, who helped shut them out for only the second time this season. If the Padres had visions of denting the Monster in their Fenway debut, Martinez utterly disappointed them as he allowed only a first-inning single to Mark Loretta and a fifth-inning double to Terrence Long. The Sox ace fanned eight as he reached 94 miles an hour on the rader gun numerous times, at least four times for strikeouts.
Take it from Kapler, who all but guaranteed in the face of widespread skepticism late in spring training that Martinez would return to throwing at least 94 miles an hour by midseason.
"There are a couple of guys you just don't sweat it with, like Manny and Pedro," Kapler said. "It doesn't matter what happens because the odds are going to be with them. Pedro was phenomenal tonight."
