It was an old-fashioned pitcher's duel, featuring Martinez and David Wells, two guys who were chucking in the eighth inning of Game 7 in New York last Oct. 16. Wells, last seen here when he beat the Sox in Game 5 of that fateful series, left with a six-hit shutout in the sixth. Meanwhile, Pedro pitched eight innings of two-hit, shutout baseball, striking out eight, with one walk in a 1-0 victory over the first-place Padres. An old-fashioned Martinez masterpiece.
Was it the Pedro of old?
"With the way the weather is going and the way I felt the last three outings, I don't see why not," said Martinez. "Tonight was a great game. A game you can dream of."
General manager Theo Epstein added, "That's the best fastball he's had all year. Not that that's the most important thing, but since people talk about it when it's not so good, we should mention it tonight. He had electric stuff."
Pedro's 115th and final pitch resulted in a pop to shallow right by Khalil Greene, ending the eighth inning and triggering chants of "Pe-dro, Pe-dro," as Martinez walked toward the dugout. After that, it was "Sweet Caroline," followed by Keith Foulke's 1-2-3 ninth, which flowed into "Dirty Water" and the Dropkick Murphys' "Tesse." The game took only 2 hours and 27 minutes, a nifty start to the Sox' interleague play in 2004.
You could see from the beginning that this was the Pedro of yore. After giving up a one-out single to Mark "Get Back" Loretta in the first, he froze the next two batters, getting Brian Giles and Phil Nevin on called third strikes. There were none of those curveball cookies he threw to Vladimir Guerrero in last week's 11-hit, seven-run outing in Anaheim. The heat was back. The location was back.
"Location is huge for any pitcher," said manager Terry Francona. "He changed speeds and located. He pitched like you're supposed to. Nothing ever surprises him. He got them out tonight efficiently."
Martinez and pitching coach Dave Wallace cited a mechanical correction made when Pedro threw in the bullpen in Kansas City over the weekend. Martinez said he was rushing his front leg during his delivery, something he noticed while reviewing videotape. The correction obviously worked.
