By Howard Ulman, Associated Press, 5/25/2003

BOSTON -- Pedro Martinez was placed on the disabled list for the fourth time in five seasons Sunday, but he's expected to pitch next weekend in Toronto.

Martinez, who has an inflamed tendon and strained muscle high on his right side, went on the 15-day list retroactive to May 16, the day after his last appearance for the Red Sox. He can be activated Saturday.

He felt pain in his side last Monday, and the next day he was scratched from his scheduled start against the New York Yankees at home.

Martinez also will miss Boston's three-game series at Yankee Stadium, which starts Monday. The Red Sox were expected to activate lefty Matt White to take Martinez's roster spot; White was in the clubhouse after the game.

"It's getting better," Martinez said after Boston's 6-4 loss to Cleveland on Sunday. "I want to pitch as soon as possible, whenever I can. There's nothing I can do."

Martinez threw before Saturday's and Sunday's games, and team physician Bill Morgan said the three-time Cy Young award winner felt better each day.

"I think he'll be ready to come back on the weekend, unless he pushes it too hard or he runs into problems," Morgan said. With "the course he's taking right now, I would think by the weekend he'd be ready to go."

An MRI exam Tuesday showed inflammation in a tendon that indicates a strain in the latissimus dorsi, a muscle that runs from the back and around the side.

Martinez avoided the disabled list last year, when he was 20-4 and led the AL with a 2.26 ERA. This season he's 4-2 with a 2.83 ERA.

General manager Theo Epstein said he didn't think Martinez would be on the disabled list long.

"All our reports are it's not a (muscle) tear," Epstein said. "It's just a matter of being patient until the discomfort is gone. We would not send Pedro Martinez to the mound with discomfort and risk further injury."