Martinez matter said resolved

BALTIMORE -- Pedro Martinez and Terry Francona have spoken and apparently have resolved the Red Sox pitcher's unexcused early departure from Camden Yards on Opening Night, according to manager Francona and general manager Theo Epstein.

According to team sources, Martinez was not fined for leaving the park before the final out of Sunday night's game.

"The small matter was handled in a manner that was very satisfactory to the front office and the manager by communicating with the player," Epstein said. "It's behind us."

"It's not an issue," Francona said.

While Martinez declined to address reporters after yesterday's game, Francona confirmed he and Martinez had a conversation. He would not characterize the talk as calling Martinez on the carpet. The time and place of the conversation were not revealed, but Martinez arrived at the park long after Francona addressed the media before yesterday's game, indicating it may have taken place Monday night or yesterday morning away from the park.

The new manager continued to blame himself for not conveying the team rules to Martinez.

Francona said that because Martinez was delayed reporting to spring training because of a family emergency, Martinez did not receive the rules, as did the other pitchers and catchers.

"I didn't communicate it very well," said Francona. "I passed out some of the guidelines early and that was my fault because Pedro didn't even get it. Remember he came a couple days late? I overlooked that. It's my fault." Martinez was the last Red Sox player to arrive at the ballpark yesterday, coming in at about 1:25 p.m., when the rest of his teammates were doing their pregame stretch on the field. Martinez threw at Camden Yards on Monday's offday, and yesterday went about his normal between-start routine once arriving at the park. Martinez is scheduled to pitch again Saturday night vs. the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. According to a source with knowledge of the conversation between Martinez and Francona, the matter was handled "firmly" by Francona, leaving no gray area in the future. It was communicated that no player can leave the game unless he's been given permission by Francona, who later told reporters there will be situations when he will grant such permission. "If a guy who's starting the next night wants to go home, I've always been OK with that," Francona said. "There's going to be days when I let guys leave early. This is not a [boot] camp. This is a professional baseball team with grown men who work hard."

Epstein seemed miffed that anyone would perceive Francona as being soft. "I support everything Terry has done since the first day he's been here," Epstein said. "I think one of his strengths is his ability to communicate to the players both in a group setting or one-on-one. I think fewer of these issues will come up during the course of a season, and when they do they will be handled very directly with the support of the front office.

"It's an in-house matter. I don't feel that's the type of issue that should be discussed publicly. A lot of these things come up during the course of a season; very few become known to the public. It's handled by the management with the support of the front office."

A friend and associate of Martinez who didn't want to be named said Monday Martinez might have left the game while it was still going on out of frustration regarding the way he pitched. Epstein said, "We had 25 frustrated guys there and Pedro is a tremendous competitor. I know there was no malice or motivation to disrespect the club or the manager in any way." "I wasn't that shook up about it the other night," Francona said. "I kind of told you the truth the other night how I felt. Sometimes the manager is responsible to communicate some things that may be taken for granted. That's my responsibility."