Martinez proud of performance despite defeat
NEW YORK: It took just one pitch from Pedro Martinez before the crowd of 50,000 at Yankee Stadium launched into a derisive chant of "Who's Your Daddy?" directed at the Philadelphia starter in Thursday's Game 2 of the World Series.
But Martinez, for so long the Yankees' nemesis going back to his days with the Boston Red Sox, earned the grudging respect of the hostile crowd with a well-pitched performance in a 3-1 defeat as New York tied the best-of-seven series at 1-1.
"Regardless of what happened, the fact that I was the loser today, I'm extremely proud and happy being able to participate, compete against a real good team ... be able to put my team in position to catch up or win that game," he told reporters.
"It was a real good game. It was a real baseball game."
Martinez, who once lamented after a tough loss to New York that the Yankees were "my daddy," pitched six plus innings, gave up six hits, three runs and struck out eight.
The 38-year-old Dominican, no longer a hard-thrower by major league standards, kept the Yankees off balance with slow curves and change-ups barely registering above 70 mph (113 kph) that made his 88 mph fastball sizzle by comparison.
"I have been working a lot harder at mixing my pitches and hitting location really well, keeping the ball low, because I know I don't have that 95, 97 mile-an-hour fastball," said the three-times Cy Young winner. "It's a game of adjustments, and I consistently adjust to whatever situation comes up."
Yankees captain Derek Jeter was impressed by Martinez.
"Pedro is probably the smartest pitcher I've faced since I've been up (in the major leagues)," the shortstop said. "He has a good sense for knowing what's working. He mixes his pitches up. He never has a pattern you can follow. And he enjoys pitching in these games. We were fortunate tonight."
Reuters
(China Daily 10/31/2009 page8)
