Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Sox, July 19, 2002 v New York Yankees

pedro martinez
___________________________

Pedro and Mussina Unfazed By Two-Hour Rain Delay

Aces Battle Until Late Inning Scoring
Gives Red Sox 4-2 Win

Boston Draws First Blood —
Moves Within 2 Games of Yankees

Friday, July 19, 2002
Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York 

Pedro’s Line

Box Score and play-by-play

Red Sox top Yankees in opener
Mark Feinsand, mlb.com

A sold-out crowd at Yankee Stadium had to wait more than two hours for the game to start, but once it did, the fans weren’t disappointed with the classic they witnessed. Pedro Martinez and Mike Mussina engaged in a scintillating duel Friday, as the Red Sox edged the Yankees 4-2. Martinez (12-2) shut the Yankees out for seven innings, but New York battled back with two runs in the eighth to put a scare in the Sox.

Pedro strong, healthy in win
Ian Browne, mlb.com

The plan the Red Sox have orchestrated for Pedro Martinez this season can be described in three words: Proceed with caution. Did you think that was going to change in the eighth inning Friday night just because the game was hanging in the balance, the opponent was the Yankees, and a packed house of 55,510 was breathing down on Martinez and his Red Sox?

Pedro reigns after delay
Phil O’Neill, Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Pedro Martinez outdueled Mike Mussina as the Red Sox squeaked out a 4-2 victory and drew first blood in their showdown series with the first-place Yankees at jam-packed Yankee Stadium last night. Martinez rose to every occasion early, not allowing a runner to reach third base in the first seven innings. He faltered in the eighth, giving up a pair of runs as the Yankees threatened to come from behind as they have all year.

Martinez: Master stroke — Sox ride ace to crucial win in opener
Bob Hohler, Boston Globe

Don’t be fooled by the myth that the Red Sox don’t matter in Gotham. All the evidence anyone needed was written on the faces of the 55,510 who weathered a 137-minute rain delay in the Bronx to witness a classic confrontation between two masters of the mound.  What they got for their trouble was a stark reminder of why Martinez not only owned the best road ERA (1.80) in the American League but ranked as the only pitcher in major league history to win as many as 78 of his first 100 decisions for a single team.

Boston tops New York
Ron Chimelis, Springfield Union-News

It was baseball by moonlight, and for at least a few hours, it allowed the fans who had outlasted a long rain delay to enjoy all that is good about this sport, and put aside all that is not. … The Red Sox won their fourth straight, and denied the Yankees of doing the same thing in a game delayed by rain for 2 hours, 17 minutes. “It was a little bit uncomfortable for me, because I was ready,” said Martinez.

Duel Is Won by Martinez — Beats Moose as Red Sox take opener
Bob Herzog, Newsday

For most of Friday night at Yankee Stadium, baseball reverted to the dead-ball era. That’s because there was much more life in the varied pitches of Pedro Martinez and Mike Mussina than there was in the bats of either the Yankees or Red Sox.

Errors pave the way for Sox
Steven Krasner, Providence Journal

Most of the time, a classic pitchers’ duel is decided by a break. Last night, there were three. And each break, two of which came on seemingly harmless pop-ups, benefitted Boston as the Red Sox’ Pedro Martinez bested the New York Yankees’ Mike Mussina, 4-2, in front of a sellout crowd of 55,510 at Yankee Stadium.

Pedro Bests Moose to Key Red Sox Win
George King, New York Post

You want a rock-solid reason why players and owners would be idiotic to let labor problems force a work stoppage? Try last night’s match-up at Yankee Stadium where Mike Mussina and Pedro Martinez put on a dazzling pitching display in front a packed house that was rewarded for enduring a lengthy rain delay at the start of the game.

Martinez Ensures Bad Night for the Yanks
Tyler Kepner, New York Times

It rained all over the Bronx for a few hours last night, but the skies eventually cleared. Jorge Posada might not have been able to tell the difference. Four times last night, Posada, the Yankees’ catcher, came to the plate with a runner on base. Four times, he struck out. When he pounced on a bunt in the eighth inning, Posada threw it away and a run scored. He was like a hapless fellow in a cartoon, a personal rain cloud hovering above him wherever he went.

Pedro Makes Cut — Sox Move 2 Back
Don Amore, Hartford Courant

The Yankees suffered the cruel and humiliating slings and arrows of Pedro Martinez for seven innings, all in the faint hope of getting a crack at the Red Sox bullpen before it was too late. And in the eighth inning, for a moment, it appeared this quixotic approach might work. Trailing by three, the Yankees finally pushed a run across against a tiring Martinez. They had the tying runs in scoring position and Martinez right where they wanted him – on the bench.

Pedro puts his mark on Yankees
Dan Graziano, Newark Star-Ledger

Once it got going, it was a beauty. The latest installment of Yankees-Red Sox was a nifty pitchers’ duel between Boston’s Pedro Martinez and the Yankees’ Mike Mussina. But once the Red Sox got Martinez just enough runs to work with, it was over. Not even a valiant eighth-inning comeback could save the Yankees. Some nights, the opposing pitcher is just too good for you.

Yankees sink, Pedro swims — Bombers blink first as lead falls to two
Anthony McCarron, New York Daily News

The first run of the game, which came in the fourth inning, offered the Red Sox and Yankees a snapshot of how tough a game they’d play last night, especially with Mike Mussina and Pedro Martinez dueling. Boston scored on an odd sacrifice fly, with Yankee first baseman Nick Johnson catching a foul pop after a long run and accidently stepping on Alfonso Soriano’s foot as he prepared to throw home. Johnson tumbled, and so did the Yanks as they couldn’t quite follow their plan against Martinez – to match the master.

Yanks come up wet
Howard Bryant, Bergen Record

Everybody waited, the 55,510 fans, the Red Sox, and the Yankees for a driving rain to subside and the main event – headlined by Pedro Martinez and Mike Mussina – to live up to its customary high standards. The start of the game was delayed 2 hours 17 minutes, but at the end after the first-place Yankees had lost a tense and grueling 4-2 decision to the second-place Red Sox, it was clear that Boston, too, is a team to fear. Martinez was brilliant, and Mussina just slightly less so as the Red Sox closed to within two games in the AL East.

Pedro worth wait: Ace lifts Sox to win in NY
Jeff Horrigan, Boston Herald

Does Grady Little’s decision to hold back Pedro Martinez until the fourth game after the All-Star break make sense to everyone now? … “For me, this is exactly what I dream of,” Martinez said. “A full stadium, 60,000 people, I love the pressure. I love when they dare me to do something. … This win is really important because this is the team we’re chasing. Any win we can get is huge and to set the tone for the next two days because this will keep us confident.”

We’ve seen this act before
Michael Holley, Boston Globe

Good one, Pedro. You really did it this time. This was a setup. This may be your finest job ever of keeping thousands of people off balance. There was your announcement in spring training that you didn’t know what to expect of yourself in 2002. There was your self-doubt, on display for all your fans and opponents. A few times you even borrowed from a literary classic to make your point. You said you were in Wonderland with your pitching, and that you had no idea what the next start would bring. You said it all with a straight face and convincing sad eyes, and we bought every second of it.

Martinez handled with care: Proper treatment pays off
Steve Buckley, Boston Herald

It was at Yankee Stadium last September that an injured, ailing, aching, moody Pedro Martinez, against all common sense, took the mound for a pointless start against the Yankees. And everybody asked: Why? Throughout this season, new management has made it standard operating procedure to rip up the starting rotation any time it can make possible an extra day’s rest for Pedro. And everybody asks: Sure, why not?

Boston Ace Strikes at Right Time
Joel Sherman, New York Post

Pedro Martinez deploys three great pitches: a fastball, a curve and, most devastating, a changeup. When all are on like they were last night and the Boston ace is mixing them with the otherworldly feel of a great jazzman, you simply wonder how an opponent ever gets a hit.

There’s Plenty Of Pork To Carve
Jeff Jacobs, hartford Courant

Last week, he played with the pigs. This week, he played against the pigs. Last week, Pedro Martinez flew home to the Dominican Republic. Last night in a 4-2 victory, he drove home an important point in the Bronx. All the money in the world can’t beat Pedro when he pitches the way he did for seven innings. His currency is non-negotiable.

Yanks post no defense for sloppy play
Michael Silverman, Boston Herald

The Yankees played a sloppy game last night. The mess left them at a loss with their loss. … Twice, Yankees gaffes led to Red Sox runs, a costly combination in such a low-scoring game.

Bomber Miscues Pave Way For the Bosox
Brian Lewis, New York Post

The Red Sox opened this three-game series against the Yankees with a 4-2 win in front of 55,510 at the Stadium last night, and Boston’s first three runs were as much a result of the Bombers’ failings in the field as they were anything they did at the plate. And there were no bigger culprits than first baseman Nick Johnson and catcher Jorge Posada.

Pop goes their opportunity for better fate
Gordon Edes, Boston Globe

Seldom have popups caused so much pinstripe peril as they did last night in the Red Sox’ 4-2 win over the Yankees, especially for Nick Johnson, the rookie first baseman who may want to review the “I got it, I got it, you got it” page in the team’s manual.

Posada’s 4 K’s, error are striking
Darren Everson, New York Daily News

Joe Torre says baseball is a fickle game – that from one game to the next, a player can instantly transform from a goat to a hero. Or, as Jorge Posada demonstrated last night, this axiom can work in reverse. On Wednesday, Posada delivered a game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth against the Tigers. Last night, against his nemesis Pedro Martinez, he couldn’t put the ball in play – and he made a costly error. The Yankees’ catcher went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts – three of those against Martinez – and let in a run with a throwing error … “It was one of those beautiful nights in baseball,” Posada said, tongue obviously in cheek.

Perfect gentlemen: Sox behave like champs in Bronx
Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald

There are still two games remaining this weekend and 68 to go in the regular season, but the Red Sox made quite a statement last night in the opener of a pivotal three-game series with the mighty New York Yankees. Collectively and tactically, the Sox turned in a performance that was damn-near perfect.

Red Sox Say They’re Optimistic
Arthur Staple, Newsday

The perspective of the Red Sox rarely has been a positive one, especially when it comes to their most hated rivals. But this is a new Boston squad, one that came into Yankee Stadium for a three-game series in a familiar spot – trailing the Yanks by three games in the AL East standings – but with a most unfamiliar outlook.

Johnny Damon, new to this Yanks-Sox thing, said it plainly when asked what he thought of the Yankees’ acquisitions of Raul Mondesi and Jeff Weaver during the last month. “It tells me they’re somewhat worried about us,” Damon said before the start of Friday night’s rain-delayed game. “We’re staying put and we’re very comfortable with the team we do have. They feel like they have to make some moves because we’re not going away.”

Damon Says Yanks Afraid
Lenn Robbins, New York Post

The team wearing blue Pinstripes is yellow. So said Boston outfielder Jonny Damon, who yesterday declared that the Yankees’ fear of the Red Sox is what motivated them to acquire Raul Mondesi and Jeff Weaver in recent trades.

Bosox say deals prove Yanks are ‘worried’
Peter Botte, New York Daily News

The Red Sox hardly can be considered poster children for revenue sharing, even in relation to the Yankees and their $135 million payroll. … They also believe the Yankees’ recent big-ticket additions of Raul Mondesi and Jeff Weaver only affirm Boston’s status as a full-season contender in the American League East. “It tells me they’re worried about us,” All-Star Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon said before he singled and scored the first run in last night’s 4-2 Red Sox win at the Stadium. “We’re standing pat and we feel very comfortable with the team we have at the moment. “They had to make a move because they know we’re going to be around all year.”

Yanks like looking down on old rivals
Howard Bryant, Bergen Record

The Yankees were ready for this weekend, for it was the first time this season they are playing the Red Sox while in first place. Before the game, Yankees third base coach Willie Randolph said he was interested in seeing how the Red Sox responded to playing catch-up. “We know they’ve got a good team, and we know they’re better than in the previous years,” Randolph said. “But this is something new for them this year. They beat us pretty good the last few times we’ve faced them, but let’s see how it is when they’re looking up at us and not the other way around.”

Damon knows Boston demons
Lisa Olsen, New York Daily News

There was a rumor floating around the Stadium last night that anyone yelling lewd things about the Red Sox —  how they might inhale liquid through a straw, for instance ? would be heaved onto 161st St. by roaming etiquette police. If such a rule had actually been in place, the bleachers would have been empty by the first inning.

Ban is like taking shirts off our backs
Filip Bondy, New York Daily News

Is there a better way to wait out a rain delay than by sneaking through Yankee security at the bleacher turnstiles with a banned “Boston Sucks” T-shirt? Frankly, I don’t know of one. But in order to have even a tiny chance at success, you must know what you’re doing, because this is a very tricky business. Maybe you wear something over the shirt in question (editors in charge at The News allowed the Filip Creature to use the offending word only once), or stick the shirt down your pants.

Dealt bad hand, Mussina still looks like ace
John Harper, New York Daily News

It’s accepted as gospel that the Yankees have the deepest starting rotation in baseball, but the sight of Pedro Martinez dominating at the Stadium last night prompted a rather unflattering question for the home team: Just who is its ace right now? Who is its Pedro?

Pre-Game

No limit for Pedro
Michael Silverman, Boston Herald

Pedro Martinez, who starts for the Sox tonight against Yankee Mike Mussina, will not be placed under any restrictive pitch counts, Little said. “He won’t be limited. The game will dictate how long he goes.”

Sox put it to New York: Lay pressure squarely on Yankees’ shoulders
Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald

More than ever before, the New York Yankees are greed and power and wealth, and they have somehow grown even more audacious, too. … The Red Sox know this. They understand it. And they do not seem the least bit fazed. “The pressure’s on them, to be honest with you,” a stern and defiant Jason Varitek said yesterday … “The pressure’s on them and we can stand toe to toe with them, no matter what they do.” Said matter-of-fact outfielder Johnny Damon: “They had to go out and get some guys because they know we’re not going to go away.” … Said Sox starter Derek Lowe, who will miss this series with New York: “It’s basically saying (to the Yankees), ‘You’ve added people and we haven’t –and we can still compete.'”

Finally, the Yankees
Paul C. Smith, mlb.com

Before Thursday afternoon’s game, the Red Sox were eager to finish up their two-game series with the Devil Rays and move on to their three-game series with the division-leading Yankees in New York. “Everybody gets up for the Yankees,” Grady Little said. Pedro Martinez will face Mike Mussina on Friday night at Yankee Stadium and Little said Martinez would not be on any specific pitch count. “We’ll let the game dictate that,” Little said. … The Sox thought they had made up ground on the New Yorkers Wednesday night after Derek Lowe stifled the Rays 6-1. But, after the game, they shook their heads in amazement in the clubhouse as they watched the SportsCenter highlights showing the Yankees coming back to beat the Tigers 2-1.

Opportunity not lost on players
Bob Hohler, Boston Globe

Bring on da noise, bring on da Yankees. Fresh from their third straight victory – a raucous 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays – the Red Sox yesterday were bound for the Bronx and a chance to gain on the American League East leaders. The last time they faced the Yankees – June 2 in New York – the Sox held a two-game lead in the division. Since then, the Sox have gone 19-21 while the Yankees have posted a 23-15 record to seize a three-game lead. And after the three games over the weekend, the rivals face each other only five more times – and not until Aug. 27 at Fenway.

Red Sox Keeping Wild Card in Mind
Jack Curry, New York Times

… [T]here is no need to hype any series between the Yankees and Boston. The rivalry is so storied and so passionate that the meetings routinely come with their own inescapable hype, especially when one team is in first place and the other is in second. As they are now. As they will be all weekend. The Red Sox are three games behind the Yankees in the American League East, chasing the team they perennially chase. … “The Red Sox?” manager Joe Torre said. “That’s more warlike. It’s been that way for years. I watched it on TV for years. It’s an experience. It’s a great rivalry. Every game is like a series in itself.”

Next Goal: Send Message to Bosox
Joe Gergen, Newsday

The Yankees have sent a long-distance message that the 2002 season, like so many others in recent years, belongs to them. What they have yet to do is tell the Red Sox face- to-face. This is their opportunity. When the teams begin a three-game series in the Bronx tonight, the Yankees will have the upper hand. But their three-game lead does not include the kind of mastery over their traditional rivals to which both clubs have become accustomed. In fact, Boston had the better of their previous three meetings, taking a 7-4 lead in the season series.

Bombers Fired Up for Bosox Battle
Paul Schwartz, New York Post

Come Sunday, Jeff Weaver will take the mound at Yankee Stadium, glance around, take in the cacophony of noise, venom and spirit that defines Yankees vs. Red Sox. Perhaps he will think to himself: “So this is what it’s like.” … “It’s an experience, it really is,” Joe Torre said. “Every single game is like a series in itself.” … This will be the last the Yankees see of the Red Sox until Aug. 27, and with a work-stoppage looming, this could be it for quite a while.

Red Sox diehards know story
Pat Borzi, Newark Star-Ledger

Mike Mussina understands the emotion involved, even if his direct experience with the so-called Red Sox Nation is scant. … “I went to school with somebody from Weymouth,” Mussina finally said … “But he wasn’t one of those fans who live and die with the Red Sox. Or mostly die.” That’s it. The Red Sox begin a three-game series at Yankee Stadium tonight, right at the time of season their fans expect the worst from a team that has disappointed them since the 1920s, when Teapot Dome was the Enron of the day.

The Best of Enemies
Andrew Marchand, New York Post

Yankee-Red Sox history features one undeniable theme. In the end, the Yankees win. ESPN’s Peter Gammons, who began his career as a reporter for the Boston Globe in 1969, knows this about as well as anyone. … “It’s wilder in Boston than it is in New York,” the 57-year-old Gammons said. “It [the rivalry] means more to New Englanders than it does to New Yorkers, because of the history. I don’t think there is another rivalry like it in baseball or even close to it. … Some of the obsession New Englanders have is really an inferiority complex about New York, which is manifested in the whole Red Sox/Yankees relationship. It gets absolutely vile.”

New Yanks put game faces on
Julian Garcia and Roger Rubin, New York Daily News

Playing in a pennant race late in the season is a big change for first-year Yankees Raul Mondesi, Jeff Weaver and Ron Coomer. Being a part of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry might be even better.

Second-place citizens
Tom Haudricourt, Bergen Record

Boston interim general manager Mike Port no doubt spoke for the entire Red Sox Nation when he answered the question. So, Mr. Port, when exactly did it get old finishing second to the New York Yankees? “I’d say the first time we did it,” replied Port. Which gives you a pretty good idea of the level of frustration these days among the baseball-loving populace of New England. There’s no team Red Sox fans hate finishing second to more than the Yankees, even if they’ve gotten plenty of practice at it.

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