BOSTON – The Yankees and Red Sox are playing, and it is Boston showing all the poise and magic. That does not fit a script honed through eight decades in which Fenway’s team has mastered heartbreak, especially against its New York nemesis
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. Instead, the Red Sox are looking less Cursed and a heck of a lot less like the dogs who rolled over last year in going 0-6 against the Yanks after Aug. 31. In fact, what they were yesterday was dogged.
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.
“This game doesn’t mean much at this stage of the season,” Martinez said. “But I believe if we continue to play the way we have and my team continues to react the way it did today, the Yankees are going to have a tough time beating us, too. It’s not just us beating the Yankees.”
In many ways, the Yanks beat themselves with what are becoming familiar, disturbing problems. After Jorge Posada’s three-run triple keyed a four-run first, the Yanks went hitless in their nine at-bats with men in scoring position to enable a struggling Martinez to last into the sixth inning.
The Yanks again played indefensible defense. They weren’t charged with an error but could have been tagged with five. In the decisive eighth, a fog-bound Bernie Williams dropped a fly, plus Jason Giambi stumbled, preventing a shot at an inning-ending double play. That meant Shea Hillenbrand batted with two out. He mentioned “an aura” coming over him, the kind of inexplicable occurrence that normally benefits the Yanks in this rivalry.
Here the inexplicable was a homer over the Green Monster off Mariano Rivera, who usually covers up all Yankee mistakes. But yesterday he allowed Fenway Park to become Shea’s stadium as the Yanks lost a fourth straight. Two of the setbacks came after the Yanks built 4-0 leads in the first. This time was more upsetting; it was against Martinez.
Boston must hope Martinez is learning to dominate with increased upper-body bulk added to alleviate stress on a right shoulder with a tear in it. Because if this is who Martinez is now – both very good and very bad within the same start – then the Red Sox have yet another No. 3-4-type starter and will need the Yanks to be miserable all year to contend.
Martinez used a complete game-like 105 pitches to get 16 outs. He permitted five runs (four earned) on three hits, three walks and two hit batters (both Giambi). The Yankee starting nine began with a .176 career average against Martinez and 63 strikeouts in 165 at-bats (Posada was 2-for-28 with 18 whiffs). But that was Martinez, the ace.
In the second, third and fourth innings, Martinez shunned his fastball, and used his changeup. In the fifth, though, he fanned Williams, Giambi and Posada to make 33,756 at Fenway cheer the old Pedro. The new reality quickly returned in the sixth. Martinez walked Rondell White, moving his pitch count beyond 100. Being handled conservatively, Martinez was lifted and put in the unfamiliar spot of needing his team to carry him.
“I don’t want to force them to go out and pick me up,” Martinez said.
He wants to be an ace again, and said he felt progress in his command. Catcher Jason Varitek said Martinez’s aggressiveness and use of all his pitches were signals the righty was nearing form. Still, a 6.91 ERA through three starts indicates a long road. What should encourage Boston is it moved into first place with its most vital player struggling.
Look, two wins over the Yanks does not a season make. There are still 17 Yankee-Red Sox games left, still 5½ months of season, still those eight decades of pinstriped-inflicted misery to suggest the era of good feelings that has come to Fenway under a new, image-conscious ownership will be fleeting. But the Yankees – with their bloated payroll and expectations – have played poorly enough in swaths so far to evoke a serious question:
What happens to this race if Martinez really does become Martinez again?
