Martinez joined greats with an epic '99 season

By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Staff, 03/31/00

FORT MYERS, Fla. - He is 28, at the top of his game, the most valuable player in baseball. As the magnitude of his 1999 season is finally fully absorbed, Pedro Martinez soars toward the galaxy where Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Junior Griffey light the starry night.

With his mastery of the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS, Pedro Martinez kept the Red Sox' championship hopes alive while humbling the man he succeeded in Boston's pitching pantheon, Roger Clemens. (Globe File Photo / Barry Chin) Pedro's numbers against baseball's best

Pedro is the reason Boston sports fans believe the Sox might finally win a World Series. He is the reason baseball has reclaimed its rightful place on the top shelf of the New England sports cabinet. And he is the reason for our renewed interest in ace pitchers.

Martinez is coming off one of the best seasons in the history of big league pitching. Don't ask for an instant replay.

"That was one special year, and special years don't come every year,'' he said. "Of course, in your heart, all of the years you get to play in the big leagues, they are special. But to have those numbers and the type of year I had, it would be unfair to ask for it again.''

Added Pedro's pitching coach, Joe Kerrigan, "You won't see that for another 20-25 years. That happens once in a half-century. Some people did comparisons in the winter and came up with a theory that it might have been the best pitching season of the century. So don't expect that. Our goal is for him to make all 32, 33, 34 starts. If we do that, everything else will fall into place.''

Pedro last year went 23-4 with a 2.07 earned run average and 313 strikeouts. He was the first Sox pitcher since Cy Young (1901) to lead the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. His winning percentage (.852) ranks third in Boston history and he fanned 10 or more in a game 19 times. He became the first righthander to punch out 15 or more six times since Nolan Ryan in 1974. He became the second pitcher in history to fan 300 in each league, and his average of 13.2 strikeouts per nine innings is the best in history. He walked only 37 batters in 213 innings - an all-time best ratio of 8.46 strikeouts per 1 walk. He gave up only nine homers, all with no one on base. He walked the leadoff hitter only six times and only three of them scored. He fanned 37 percent of all those who stepped in against him.

This is to say nothing of his dramatics and clutch performances. In July, Martinez started the All-Star Game at Fenway and put on a show that rekindled memories of Carl Hubbell at the Polo Grounds in 1934. Hubbell struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin in order in the first two innings. Pedro fanned five (Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Jeff Bagwell - four MVPs, plus McGwire) of the six batters he faced in two innings, earning MVP honors in the American League win. Two months later in New York, he pitched perhaps the best game ever thrown against the mighty Yankees.

On the night of Sept. 10, Pedro toed the rubber at Yankee Stadium and beat the world champs, 3-1, allowing only one hit and striking out 17, including 12 of the last 15 and the last five in order. Seventeen Yankees. All in a line. All of them good ones. He punched out Darryl Strawberry with a 97-mile-per-hour heater in the ninth, then fanned Chuck Knoblauch with a 96- m.p.h. fastball to end the game. Only one of the final 15 hitters put the ball into fair territory. Eighty-one of his 121 pitches were strikes.

He was beating the Indians in the first game of the playoffs when a muscle strain in his back cost the Sox the ballgame and appeared to put them out of playoff contention. But in the fifth and deciding game, with the score tied, 8-8, in the fourth, Martinez came out of the bullpen to stop the bleeding. He hurled six innings of no-hit ball, allowing only one ball out of the infield. The Sox advanced to the American League Championship Series and Pedro mastered Roger Clemens and the Yankees in a memorable Game 3 at Fenway.

Theories on his greatness

There has never been a pitcher quite like Pedro around here. Cy Young recorded 192 of his 511 wins with the Red Sox. Babe Ruth had tremendous success and set a World Series record for consecutive scoreless innings while pitching for Boston. Mel Parnell proved to be the Sox' top lefthander, Dick Radatz was the most fearsome reliever of all-time, Jim Lonborg dominated for one season, and Luis Tiant was the best big-game pitcher of his generation. Then there was Clemens, who won three Cy trophies for Boston and tied Young with 192 career victories in a Red Sox uniform. In 1986 the Rocket went 24-4, was the All-Star MVP and the league MVP, won the Cy Young Award, and hurled the Sox to the seventh game of the World Series. But Clemens '86 still falls short of Pedro '99.

So why is Pedro so tough to hit?

Kerrigan: "He throws 94-97 miles per hour with great control. Then he's got the best changeup in the game. He's got the best, violent arm action on his changeup - the same fastball arm speed, but it comes out 12-15 miles per hour slower with movement. Players go up for an entire at-bat and sit on the changeup and they still don't hit it because of the arm speed and movement. Sometimes it will go down 8 or 10 inches. Throw in a curveball that's probably one of the best five curveballs in the American League - it has great depth and buckles righthanders. He's starting to learn to use it against lefthanders because he's more confident. So now he's a three-pitch pitcher against both lefthanders and righthanders.''

Kerrigan claims the changeup is Martinez's best pitch. Hitters can't detect the pitch because it's released at the same point and Martinez's arm speed doesn't vary.

Spring training offers a rare opportunity for major league players. Live batting practice is the only time they get a face-to-face view of their ace teammate at work. In mid-February, Sox hitters Mike Stanley, John Valentin, Trot Nixon, and Troy O'Leary experienced the unbearable heaviness of hitting against Pedro Martinez.

What's it like to step into the box against the Cy Young of the new millennium?

Stanley: "It doesn't even help that much when he tells you what's coming. He told me he was going to throw a curveball and I swung at it even though it ended up outside in the dirt. Intimidation is the best thing he's got going for him. Then control. Then his stuff. He's the toughest pitcher I've ever faced.''

Valentin: "He's the best pitcher in the game, so sometimes it doesn't matter if you know what's coming. Any offspeed pitch that's thrown in a good spot is hard to hit. Pedro's command makes him tough. He can basically throw it wherever he wants. It's a different perspective hitting against him than watching from third base. He throws hard.''

Nixon: "I was excited to see everything he has. I feel sorry for some of those hitters that have to face him. When he has those A-game days, he's tough to face. He threw a lot of changeups and fastballs to O'Leary and I. It's a nasty changeup. Even when he tells you, it's still hard to hit because there's so much movement on his ball.''

O'Leary: "I can't hit against Pedro.''

There.

Dave Stewart, former ace of the A's and Blue Jays, said, "No doubt, he's the best in baseball, the most dominating. He and Randy Johnson are neck and neck when it comes to that. He changes speed and has outstanding control and a lot of movement on his ball. He has a real good idea what he's trying to get done out there.''

Pedro is humble about his stature.

"To me, being the No. 1 is just a matter of respect,'' he said. "They recognize that you are the one that had the more productive year and gives us the best chance to win.''

Red Sox manager Jimy Williams said, "Pedro had a premier year in '99 - I know, I saw every game - but I still see him down here this spring, trying to be better. That's his whole approach. He's like the Yankees. All teams get up for him.''

Prospecting comes up golden

Martinez was 16 years old and weighed about 137 pounds when the Los Angeles Dodgers plucked him off the fields of the Dominican Republic in 1988. Brother Ramon would make his major league debut with the Dodgers two months later. The Dodgers gave Pedro English lessons and he aced the courses. Meanwhile, he climbed the ladder in the Dodgers system and made his big league debut in 1992. The Dodgers used him as a long reliever because Tommy Lasorda and others didn't think he was big enough to carry the load of a starter. He was traded to Montreal for Delino DeShields after the 1993 season. Pedro Martinez for Delino DeShields. Straight up. Think about that one.

In Montreal, Expos manager Felipe Alou, a fellow Dominican, looked at Pedro's enormous hands and whippet body and saw a starting pitcher. Perhaps Alou remembered the slight build and long fingers of a small 1960s lefthander named Sandy Koufax. In any event, there would be no more bullpen duty for Pedro the Younger. In 1997 he struck out 305 batters, compiled a 1.90 ERA, and won the Cy Young Award.

The Expos knew they couldn't sign him, so they put him out for auction. Boston general manager Dan Duquette, who was in Montreal for Pedro's formative years, knew exactly what was being made available and offered top prospects Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr. After the deal was made, the Duke went to work convincing Pedro to sign a long-term, $75 million deal.

It was immediately apparent that Duquette had successfully replaced Clemens. Pedro fanned 11 A's in seven innings and beat Oakland, 2-0, in the 1998 opener and never looked back. Martinez went 19-7 with a 2.89 ERA in '98, then snapped Boston's 13-game postseason losing streak when he beat the Indians in the opening game of the Division Series. Unfortunately, he never got the ball back, and it was on to 1999 ... and baseball history.

Walking with immortals

He has become a Boston sports cult hero, surpassing Drew Bledsoe and any active Celtic or Bruin of your choice. Martinez is only a couple of years and one championship removed from joining the pantheon of Boston greats that includes Larry Bird, Bill Russell, and Bobby Orr. He enjoys boundless popularity and seems to thrive on the attention. He calls Fenway "my house,'' and Pedro starts at Fenway have become must-see events.

Folks who split season-ticket packages now have to divvy up the ducats so that everybody gets an equal amount of Martinez games. Seventeen or 18 times a year, Fenway takes on a World Cup flair as Pedro's countrymen wave Dominican flags from the bleachers and right-field grandstand.

The ace's enthusiasm is contagious. He encourages teammates and fans to think positive.

"I think one of these days that little ground ball that went through Bill Buckner's feet will probably be caught,'' he said. "I wasn't born those years they went through all those things. But I know everything can change. When it's meant to happen, it's gonna happen. Believe me. It's gonna happen.''

His influence extends beyond his own performance. He keeps teammates loose with pranks and encouragement, and Kerrigan uses him as a teaching tool. "I take a lot of things out of his delivery and try to carry them over to other guys,'' said Kerrigan. "He's great for his teammates. They learn just by watching him. He has a domino effect with regard to instruction with each of our pitchers.''

He came to Fort Myers looking better than ever in the spring of 2000. Sports Illustrated put him on the cover of its baseball issue and warned the world that this will be the year the Red Sox win the World Series. Pedro is listed as Reason No. 1.