All Eyes On Petey
Tonight Pedro Martinez takes the mound in St. Louis, looking for a bit of redemption and the chance to grab some post-season glory. For the past week the baseball buzz has been all about Curt Schilling - and rightly so. But now it's time for Petey to step up.
The man who is arguably the greatest of all Red Sox pitchers is making his first ever World Series start. It should have come sooner, perhaps would've have come sooner, had he spent more time in a rotation with men named Schilling and less time with men named Rapp or Portugal. What may be his last start under the scarlet 'B' comes when he is past his prime:
Right now the Big Question (besides 'will Schilling be available for a Game Six?') is: how will Pedro perform tonight? Will he be the Petey who displayed his gunslinger strut to great effect during his last start in Oakland? The Petey who struggled during his last outings of the regular season? The Pedro who turned in workmanlike but unremarkable starts against the Yankees? To quote Ryan again:
I'll save the prognostication to those better equipped to make such predictions and simply tell what I want, what I hope for.
I want one last display of vintage Petey. I want the cold-eyed stare and the gunslinger strut. I want him to carve up the Cardinals' lineup and leave raggedy pieces of Redbird hitters strewn about the batter's box.
There is no logical reason for me to expect such an encore. Red Sox fans have already been treated to two pitching miracles; a third would beggar belief. And yet, the first truly awe-inspiring mind-blowing up-on-your-feet-and-screaming pitching miracle I ever watched was delivered by Pedro, not Curt. Yes, I'm talking about Game Five of the 1999 ALDS against the Cleveland Indians.
And no, I'm not interested in weighing the two experiences, 1999 and 2004, against one another. They are apples and oranges: different teams, different pitchers and different styles. Schilling's' match-ups against the Yankees and Cardinals seemed as much about will as skill. There wasn't a lot of finesse - watching Curt on the mound I got the impression that if need be he'd grab his opponents by the neck and shove a loss down their throats. Watching Pedro on October 11, 1999 was otherworldly. Injured in Game One (back strain) he strolled to the mound in the 4th and pitched six innings of no-hit ball, striking out eight - all in the same matter-of-fact manner you or I might use in dialing up a pizza.
I don't expect to see that level of greatness tonight. I've no doubt his spirit is willing and his pride wishes it to be, but that his body is no longer able to perform at that superhuman level. My heads tells me to expect another 6-7 innings with 3-4 runs given up. My heart? My heart wishes for a swan song worthy of someone who gave the fans so many memorable games. If not greatness, then an echo of greatness fading away.
Oops, almost forgot. If tonight's game should be rained out and you need a baseball fix; if for some reason you missed 1999 the first time around, you find it here in MLB.Com's Baseball's Best.
The man who is arguably the greatest of all Red Sox pitchers is making his first ever World Series start. It should have come sooner, perhaps would've have come sooner, had he spent more time in a rotation with men named Schilling and less time with men named Rapp or Portugal. What may be his last start under the scarlet 'B' comes when he is past his prime:
Pedro is no longer the Pedro of legend. His athletic mortality has been clear during the 20 innings he has pitched in the 2004 playoffs. The Pedro of legend would not have given up 20 hits and 12 earned runs in those 20 innings, and he surely would not have walked 11 batters. As a starter, he has a win, a loss, and a no-decision, and he also had that curious inning of work in Yankee Game 7, a 20-pitch effort that arched eyebrows around the globe (no exaggeration).
Right now the Big Question (besides 'will Schilling be available for a Game Six?') is: how will Pedro perform tonight? Will he be the Petey who displayed his gunslinger strut to great effect during his last start in Oakland? The Petey who struggled during his last outings of the regular season? The Pedro who turned in workmanlike but unremarkable starts against the Yankees? To quote Ryan again:
The relevant time frame is the present, and the relevant question is, just what can management, his manager, his teammates, the media, and the entirety of Red Sox Nation expect from the 2004 autumn Pedro Martinez, who has won just once in his last seven starts?
I'll save the prognostication to those better equipped to make such predictions and simply tell what I want, what I hope for.
I want one last display of vintage Petey. I want the cold-eyed stare and the gunslinger strut. I want him to carve up the Cardinals' lineup and leave raggedy pieces of Redbird hitters strewn about the batter's box.
There is no logical reason for me to expect such an encore. Red Sox fans have already been treated to two pitching miracles; a third would beggar belief. And yet, the first truly awe-inspiring mind-blowing up-on-your-feet-and-screaming pitching miracle I ever watched was delivered by Pedro, not Curt. Yes, I'm talking about Game Five of the 1999 ALDS against the Cleveland Indians.
And no, I'm not interested in weighing the two experiences, 1999 and 2004, against one another. They are apples and oranges: different teams, different pitchers and different styles. Schilling's' match-ups against the Yankees and Cardinals seemed as much about will as skill. There wasn't a lot of finesse - watching Curt on the mound I got the impression that if need be he'd grab his opponents by the neck and shove a loss down their throats. Watching Pedro on October 11, 1999 was otherworldly. Injured in Game One (back strain) he strolled to the mound in the 4th and pitched six innings of no-hit ball, striking out eight - all in the same matter-of-fact manner you or I might use in dialing up a pizza.
I don't expect to see that level of greatness tonight. I've no doubt his spirit is willing and his pride wishes it to be, but that his body is no longer able to perform at that superhuman level. My heads tells me to expect another 6-7 innings with 3-4 runs given up. My heart? My heart wishes for a swan song worthy of someone who gave the fans so many memorable games. If not greatness, then an echo of greatness fading away.
Oops, almost forgot. If tonight's game should be rained out and you need a baseball fix; if for some reason you missed 1999 the first time around, you find it here in MLB.Com's Baseball's Best.
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