Martinez back in New York spotlight

He had become the Caribbean version of Roger Clemens, a man happy to play half the season with the proper financial incentive. But far more fish bit than did teams.

Baseball executives rolled their eyes when Martinez demanded $5 million; mindful that he had pitched poorly for the Mets in 2008 after spending three months on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring. The fear was that Martinez had wrung every inning out of his right arm and could not compete with a fastball that only rarely brushed 90 miles per hour.

That even the Mets, a team desperate for pitching, passed on Martinez seemed like a warning sign.

“I knew there were doubts in me,’’ Martinez said. “But I did not doubt myself. I knew I could still pitch. But I was willing to wait for the right situation.’’

Martinez retreated from his financial demands and when the Phillies asked he twice traveled from his home in Santo Domingo to face teenage prospects at the team’s complex in Guanuma in early July. The Phillies, impressed by what they saw, offered Martinez $1 million.

Desire trumped pride and Martinez accepted. Four months later, he was spinning in joyous circles on the infield grass at Citizens Bank Park after the Phillies clinched their return to the World Series. Now Martinez will face the Yankees in either Game 2 or Game 3 of the Word Series later this week.

“I’m happy for Pedro,’’ said Yankees left fielder Johnny Damon, Martinez’s teammate for four years with the Red Sox. “Not too many teams bid on him to pick him up during the offseason. But he waited, picked the right team, and now he’s back in the World Series.’’

For Damon and Martinez, this World Series is their first since they helped lead the Red Sox to their historic championship in 2004. They shared the cover of Sports Illustrated that fall and now, five years later, will compete against each other for baseball’s biggest prize.

“It’s a strange thing, facing guys from that team because we were like brothers,’’ Damon said in the early hours yesterday morning after the Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels to clinch their berth. “But I’ll always hope the best for Pedro. What a great teammate. I was fortunate to play with him and against him for all these years.’’

Martinez, who turned 38 Sunday, says he is a different man than when he last played for the Red Sox. Martinez left Boston after the World Series, taking an offer from the Mets when they guaranteed a fourth year.

He has been married for three years to former ESPN Deportes reporter Carolina Cruz, whom he met in 1998 while she was a student and volleyball player at Boston College. Martinez also lost his father, Paulino Jaime, to brain cancer in 2008.

“So much has changed since I left Boston,’’ he said. “Personally, I feel older. You go through experiences in your life and it changes you. You realize there is more than baseball.’’

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel found Martinez to be less of a challenge than he initially expected.

“I always thought he was a little cocky, a little arrogant in some ways,’’ Manuel said. “Obviously he’s not arrogant at all, but he is very professional, and he studies the game, and he loves baseball, and he likes to be out there in the moment, and he thinks he can get anybody out.

“He doesn’t back away, doesn’t scare from nothing. That’s kind of how I see him; he’s very valuable on your team.’’

Martinez was 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA for the Phillies during the regular season, holding opponents to a .224 batting average. The Phillies won eight of the nine games he started.

“Pedro was a shot in the arm,’’ shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. “You add a guy like that and every time he pitches you feel like you have a chance to win the game. He came in here with a lot of confidence and he fit right in with us.’’

Martinez beat reigning National League Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum Sept. 3, allowing one run over seven innings. Martinez that day became only the ninth pitcher in history to record 100 victories in each league.

Ten days later, Martinez helped officially eliminate the Mets from the playoffs by throwing eight shutout innings.

“I have to tell you, I’m sorry for them,’’ Martinez said afterward.

Martinez did not pitch in the division series against the Rockies. But he was picked to start Game 2 of the NLCS against Los Angeles and mesmerized the Dodgers for seven shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out three without a walk.

“He was the same pitcher I saw all those years with the Red Sox,’’ Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. “What he lacks in velocity, he’s making up for with guts.’’

Now the Phillies may be willing to offer Martinez a multiyear contract with incentives.

“I don’t think Pedro has done anything to push us away from it,’’ general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said.

That is a subject for another day. For now, Martinez is seeking a second World Series ring to add to his three Cy Young Awards. The Yankees, who will line up CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Andy Pettitte, would seem to have the superior rotation. But Martinez has the ability to change that. He is 6-2 with a 3.13 ERA in the postseason and will not shrink from the tumult.

“He’s been in the big moment, and I think that his performance the other day in Dodger Stadium, how good he pitched, he deserves another chance to go back out there,’’ Manuel said last week. “I think he’s still got quite a bit left.’’

The Yankees are a fitting foe. Martinez has faced New York 32 times in his career, more than any other team, and six more times in the postseason.

“I respect the Yankees. I love the Yankees. But I would love to beat them as bad as I look forward to them,’’ Martinez said.

His last postseason appearances against the Yankees came in the 2004 ALCS. Now the pitcher who once called the Yankees “his daddy’’ will go against them again, but this time in the World Series.

Martinez was told he has a long history with the Yankees.

“Really?’’ he said with a smile. “They have a long history with me.’’

Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com.