| | When Carl Yastrzemski took over in left field for the Boston Red Sox in 1961, he had the thankless task of replacing Ted Williams.
But in a way, Pedro Martinez has an even steeper challenge this season. Martinez must find a way to top himself.
Talk about a tough act to follow.
|  | | The Red Sox last won the World Series in 1918 -- with a little help from a fellow named Babe Ruth. The Babe was 13-7 as a pitcher that year and also led the AL with 11 home runs. The Red Sox beat the Cubs in six games as Ruth won both his starts. |
Martinez's 1999 season was a magical one. But this season, incredibly enough, the two-time Cy Young Award winner is aiming higher.
"Who knows when God is going to give you another one of those?" said Martinez, looking back on last year. "But personal stuff, I just don't care about. I just want to win a World Series.
"I've achieved everything for myself. In the long run, I'd like to get to the Hall of Fame. But that's hard to get. Those are some serious numbers. Honestly, I would like to win a World Series more than anything else. I've been to All-Star Games, had success in all kinds of things. But I want to win. I need to see Boston and what it's like when we win."
There are baseball fans who've been collecting Social Security for two decades who wonder the same thing. The Red Sox have been wandering in the baseball desert, without a World Series championship, for the last 82 years. But in New England, there's a sense that may be coming to an end.
As they used to say in Brooklyn: "Next year is here."
No more waiting.
In Boston, anticipation has never been higher and interest has never been keener. Martinez makes the impossible seem possible.
The New York Yankees, who have won the last two World Series and three of the last four, suddenly don't look so unbeatable and Pedro is the one of the primary reasons.
Even the Yankees are in awe of the pitcher's talent.
"We were 11-1 in the postseason last year," noted Joe Torre earlier this spring. "But that one loss was to Pedro (in Game 3 of the ALCS), so I don't count that. In my mind, we were really 11-0."
It's common to hear that superstar athletes make everyone around them better, but in the case of Martinez, it's actually true.
"He takes a lot of pressure off the rest of that staff," Torre says of a staff that allowed the fewest runs in the AL last season.
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Fun Pedro facts
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His strikeout-to-walk ratio was 313/37 (8.5), the third-best ever, behind Bret Saberhagen (1994, 143/13) and Greg Maddux (1997, 177/20).
His strikeout rate (13.2 per nine innings) was the highest-ever for a starting pitcher.
Led the AL in ERA at 2.07. David Cone was second at 3.44, the largest-gap ever between first and second.
While Martinez had a 2.07 ERA, all other AL starting pitchers had a 5.03 ERA.
Martinez has finished first or second in the Cy Young voting three straight years, something matched only by Maddux, Sandy Koufax and Jim Palmer.
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The rest of the starters know that Martinez can apply the brakes to a losing streak in the regular season. In the postseason, he can his team a nearly automatic 1-0 lead in a series if he starts the first game.
"Look at it this way," said veteran catcher Tim Spehr, fighting to make the roster as a backup catcher. "He's got the best fastball in the game, the best changeup in the game and one of the top three curves in the league. When you have three dominant pitches you can throw for strikes any time, that's hard to beat."
The bullpen benefits from his dominance and ability to pitch deep into the game. Since Martinez can be counted upon for eight innings nearly every start, the bullpen can be unloaded the day before he pitches, secure with the knowledge that the following day is akin to a day off.
Then, newly refreshed because of Martinez, the relievers are ready to go again the day following his starts.
Manager Jimy Williams and pitching coach Joe Kerrigan smartly monitor Martinez's workload and guard against overuse. Last year, nearly half of Martinez's starts came with five days' rest instead of the regular four. His record in those games? 13-0.
Like no other pitcher in the league, Martinez has a certain presence that intimidates the opposition. Privately, even the Yankees fretted about having to return to New York in the ALCS last October, not wanting to take their chances in a Game 7 with Martinez on the mound, even at home.
The Yankees' fears are well-founded. After all, Martinez beat the Yankees in both his starts against them in the regular season, including a dominating one-hitter on Sept. 10 in which he fanned 17 and allowed no walks.
But dominant as he is, Martinez can't do it alone.
Martinez may not be able to improve on last year, but the Red Sox can.
"This year," Martinez said, "we look better on paper."
True enough. Here are five other reasons the Red Sox can win the pennant:
1. The addition of Carl Everett will provide a significant burst to an offense that ranked ninth in the AL in runs scored. Everett represents a huge upgrade from Darren Lewis in center. He gives the Red Sox a third switch-hitter in their batting order, improves the middle of the lineup and gives them much-needed speed.
Everett also brings a certain intangible to the team. Call it swagger. Everett isn't intimidated by the Yankees and believes his new team is perfectly positioned to overtake the champs. That kind of attitude could be contagious.
2. Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek are poised for breakout seasons. Nixon hit .105 last April and looked overmatched. But he blossomed over the second half, during which he hit .296 with a .587 slugging percentage and .389 on-base percentage. He has also enjoyed a torrid spring at the plate.
Varitek, too, should be ready to improve after his first full season as the team's No. 1 catcher. He hit .269 with 20 homers and could improve both numbers. The argument could be made that he's the league's second-best catcher, behind only Pudge Rodriguez.
3. The rest of the rotation has been stabilized. Pedro's older brother Ramon is fully recovered from rotator cuff surgery 21 months ago. Ramon isn't even the best pitcher in his family, but he's a strong No. 2 starter with a career winning percentage of .616.
Tim Wakefield, shuttled between the rotation and the bullpen because of injuries to other pitchers in 1999, is more comfortable as a starter and is utilizing some changes advised by Hall of Famer (and fellow knuckleballer) Phil Niekro. Until last year, when he started 17 games and saved 15 others, Wakefield averaged almost 15 wins for the Red Sox. Not bad a for a No. 4 starter.
The team must do without Bret Saberhagen for the first few months. But when he's ready to rejoin the rotation, it will be the equivalent of landing an experienced starter at the trading deadline. The only difference, of course, is the Sox won't have to give anything up to get him. Saberhagen didn't have enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, but his 2.95 ERA trailed only Pedro Martinez among AL pitchers with 20 or more starts.
4. Meanwhile, in the Bronx, there are signs of slippage. New York's rotation, while deep and accomplished, is also old. Two of the starters -- Roger Clemens and David Cone -- are 37 and another -- Orlando Hernandez -- is at minimum, 34.
Ed Yarnall has been a spring training bust and has been sent back to Triple-A, which may force the Yankees to move Ramiro Mendoza out of the bullpen, where he's been invaluable.
5. In the field, the Yankees are also getting old. Paul O'Neill is 37, and infielders Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch and Tino Martinez are also on the wrong side of 30.
It may be a signal of how the Yankees have come back to the pack that they are busy finding playing time for the likes of Shane Spencer and Jim Leyritz. After leading the league in both runs scored and runs allowed in 1998, the Yankees accomplished neither feat in 1999.
Even if the Yankees can beat the Red Sox over the course of 162 games -- and remember, the Red Sox shaved 18 games over the differential from 1998 to 1999 when they finished only four games behind the Yankees -- the Sox could still overtake them in a seven-game series.
The trick for the Red Sox is to position Martinez for the series opener, so they can grab the early momentum and just maybe have him available for a seventh and deciding game.
Last October, after Martinez was sidelined with a muscle pull and pitched out of the bullpen to the team's rescue in Game 5 of the Division Series against Cleveland, they didn't have that luxury.
Thrown in a little better luck -- Jason Varitek handles Trot Nixon's throw in Game 1, Varitek's and Troy O'Leary's hits clear the fence instead of falling inches short in Game 2 -- and this time the outcome is different. And let's face it, the Red Sox are due for a change of fortune one of these centuries
What of Martinez' own expectations?
"If you gave me the same season, I'd take it," he said.
So will the Red Sox. All the way past the Yankees, to their first world championship since 1918.
Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal-Bulletin covers the American League for ESPN.com. | |
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