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Slumping Martinez can’t understand
why his game’s gone south
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BALTIMORE–Pedro Martinez is in the worst slump of his career,
losing four straight starts for the first time ever-and his
swagger, too.
After his latest loss to the Devil Rays on Tuesday, Martinez
suggested his pitching doesn’t merit being named Game 5
starter for the ALDS, and those words came with his declaration
that the Yankees are “my daddy” still hanging in the
air.
Martinez has been one of baseball’s most confident and
effective pitchers for most of the past decade. Suddenly, he
appears to be neither. Was this really the man who wanted to wake
up the Bambino and “drill him in the (rear)?”
“If you take Petey’s words at face value, it shows you
don’t understand him,” Gabe Kapler said.
“He’s a ferocious competitor and he’s
extraordinarily confident. He’s a brilliant pitcher and he
understands the psychological side of this game better than
most.”
But Martinez can’t seem to understand what’s happening
to his game, saying “maybe I am throwing too many
strikes” and “I am not hitting my targets.”
Whatever is happening, over his last four starts, he is 0-4 with a
7.71 ERA.
Martinez’s 16 wins tie him with Chicago ace Mark Buehrle for
sixth in the American League and his 212 innings pitched are more
than he’s thrown since 2000, but his 3.90 ERA is the highest
of his career and more than a run over his previous high with the
Red Sox, a 2.89 mark in his first year with Boston, 1998.
In the past, any struggles Martinez has had could usually be linked
to injury – but not anymore. He hasn’t missed a start all
season. And in each start of his four-game losing streak,
he’s been able to hit high velocities.
“He is a somewhat different pitcher than he was years ago in
that he’s rationing the overpowering mid-90s fastball,”
one scout said. “But you don’t see a lot that’s
different between the way he is pitching now and they way he was
pitching several weeks ago . . . His command hasn’t been as
good, but his mechanics look the same.”
Another scout had a much dimmer view of Martinez’s slump,
suggesting it may be the beginning of the end for the undersized
32-year-old righthander.
“I saw him a couple of weeks ago. He looked like he
might’ve had a tired arm,” that scout said. “His
velocity was down and his stuff was not sharp. Even his change,
which is great, didn’t have the same movement, the same sink,
that it usually does. I don’t know if he’s come down a
notch, but I’m beginning to believe that. He gets to the
fifth or sixth inning and he starts to wear down.You may not see an
overpowering pitcher again. When I saw him, his stuff was a little
flat. He’s a notch below what he was, that’s all, and I
think it’s a permanent thing. You may not see the guy from a
couple of years ago.”
While Martinez is morphing into a different pitcher, teams are also
changing the way they attack him. The Yankees always used to grind
Martinez down with long at-bats, but when they beat him in New York
on Sept. 19, many were swinging early-the Yankees scored two runs
on Martinez’s first four pitches.
In his loss to the Bombers at Fenway four days later, four Yankees
hits came on one of the first three pitches of an at-bat. In the
loss to Tampa Bay Tuesday, three runs scored on hits that came in
the first three pitches of an at-bat.
Martinez went to Francona to find out whether he or 21-game winner
Curt Schilling would start the Red Sox’s first playoff game
shortly before his last start. Francona said Martinez took the news
he would get the ball for Game 2 “about as professional as
you could be.”
Schilling, 8-0 with a 2.15 ERA in his last nine starts, will pitch
Tuesday’s playoff opener. Francona said Bronson Arroyo and
Tim Wakefield will pitch Games 3 and 4 in some order, with
floundering Derek Lowe bumped to the bullpen.
“Petey and I had talked about it before,” Schilling
said. “I think we both knew that regardless of who got the
start, the other guy would be okay with it. We both understand
what’s at stake here and it’s a lot bigger than either
of our egos.”
And when the stakes are high, Martinez has typically been at his
best. He’s 3-0 with a 2.61 ERA in division series games and
4-1 with a 3.10 ERA in eight postseason appearances.
“He’s going to go in Game 2 and I’m really okay
with that,” Francona said. “What’s happened with
New York and in Tampa Bay will be so far in the rearview
mirror–what his comments were–I don’t think it will have
any impact on how he pitches in that game.”
What makes the manager so sure?
“Look at his career,” he said. “That’s how
I know.”
Roger Rubin
New York Daily News
