BOSTON – A carton of Presidente beers and a bottle of Cristal rested on Pedro Martinez’s chair in front of his locker in the Met clubhouse yesterday.

“See,” Martinez said, “that’s what happens when you come home.” Pedro returned to Fenway Park yesterday – as a Met – for the first time since he signed with the Amazin’s. He walked into the visitors’ clubhouse at approximately 4 p.m. and said, “Let me get familiar with this.” But in reality, the former Sox ace felt comfortable in his old stadium.

“It’s great. I feel like I’m in very, very familiar territory,” he said, “Overall, it’s just a refreshing feeling around here.” Martinez had been in Boston since Sunday night, but when he got on the field yesterday, the reception was certainly welcoming.

One sign, from a man in a Red Sox shirt, conveyed plenty:

THANK YOU PEDRO.

Martinez – who was honored with a video played in last night’s game and who will face the Red Sox tonight at Fenway – heard cheers when he got on the field, and he waved to the fans. He greeted pal Manny Ramirez at the batting cage and he and David Ortiz had their arms around each other’s shoulders.

When Martinez headed to the outfield, he greeted the Sox groundskeepers. He waved to fans while in center field before the game and signed autographs for the crowd in left field.

And when he talked beforehand – at a special press conference – about seeing fans outside of Fenway since he’s been back, he had more fun encounters.

“Everybody just has embraced me, just like before,” he said. “Just like if I was playing for the Red Sox and I was having success.” When he talked about the reception from the fans tonight and what he anticipated, he said, “If they clap for me, I’ll be really happy.

But if they don’t, I’ll just have to say they’re doing it to back up their team, which is the Red Sox, not the Mets.” Martinez is a Met, of course, but he again insisted yesterday that his priority was to stay at Fenway with the rest of the 2004 world champions.

“I think Boston could have done anything to keep me and not let me go,” he said, “except for maybe, I don’t know, misjudging what exactly was my mistake – saying that I wanted to stay here so bad.” Martinez – who referred to himself as “the number-one fan for the Red Sox right now, if you ask me” – also said that with regards to Red Sox principal owner John Henry, “I wish he was here right now so that he could actually look at me say to him that I got four years [with the Mets] and that I wanted them to work something out.

“And [Red Sox CEO Larry] Lucchino, I wish Lucchino was right here so I could tell Lucchino again when I flip my glasses down and I said, ‘I got four years’ and he goes, ‘No, bull- – – -.’ So that he can really reconsider what he thought.

“And I told him, ‘I got four years,’ and after that, they were leaving for the winter meetings [in 2004], so now you know how much time ahead they had to work it out, and I remember John Henry saying, ‘I don’t care how many years you get, just get it done.’ And those were the exact words.

“I wish they were here so that they can reconsider all that and remember that I was honest and I said the truth.”