 08/30/2003 7:48 PM ET
Bauman: What ails Pedro?
Until he speaks, we may never know the truth
BOSTON -- This was the day for the ace to pitch like the ace, to carry the Boston Red Sox back into the thick of the pennant race.
It is late August in Fenway Park. The Red Sox are back of the Yankees by 3 1/2 games, but have won seven of their last eight and are coming off a big Friday night victory over the New Yorkers. At this point in the season, the difference between trailing by 2 1/2 games and 4 1/2 games is the difference between being in the race and being in the neighborhood. The table was set for the Red Sox to move back into this race in a major way, in their 135th game of the season. None of the other 134 was as large as this.
And they have their ace, Pedro Martinez, on the mound. It does not matter that the Massachusetts afternoon is completely overcast. There is still a blue-sky vibe being generated at Fenway Park.
Until the top of the third inning, that is.
It is at this point that the Yankees, down three runs, begin to hit Mr. Martinez. They get two in the third. The Red Sox get one back in their half of the inning, but in the fourth, well, if there were a roof over Fenway, it would have caved in. The first four Yanks reached base -- home run, double, single, single -- and three of them scored. Martinez managed to wiggle out of the inning without further damage, but the Yankees had extended him to 87 pitches in those four innings and he couldn't go further.
|
News
