Pedro Martinez reveals most difficult part of facing Yankees in the postseason
With the MLB postseason drawing near, legendary Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez is looking back on his own career on the game’s biggest stage.
It’s hard to believe he’s been retired for more than a decade now. These days, his postseason work is very different; he’s a spectator and commentator, watching and analyzing dominant pitching for MLB Network and MLB on TBS, rather than doing it himself.
Martinez also remains deeply committed to the Red Sox organization, for whom he serves as a special assistant and wears many hats. Of all the teams he played for, Boston is the one he loves most; it’s their cap on his bronze plaque in Cooperstown. So when he’s asked about the playoffs, the topic inevitably turns to his beloved team, even though they’ll be on the outside looking in for the third time in the last four years.
On a media call transcribed by The Big Lead this week, the adored Hall of Famer lent some insight into how he prepared to pitch in the most high-stakes games:
“…your mind has to be on, not only during the game but before the game you have to really understand what you want to do. The most difficult thing to do was set your mind to different schedules. To a different time zone or different start of the game. The game could be delayed a bit because of all the pre-game activities. That was the most difficult and exhausting thing for me.”
Pitching is the linchpin of a contending team. The presence or absence of great arms makes that clear.
But the three-time Cy Young winner also touched on what it was like facing the Yankees, who played a huge part in his postseason career. Unsurprisingly, he says the iconic “Who’s your daddy?” chants were a bit distracting:
“Once I got in the game, it didn’t really bother me to do what I needed to do because you just play like Jimmy [Rollins] said: a regular game. It’s just a game. The game doesn’t really change. But the amount of concentration that you need?Imagine for me, 60,000 at Yankee Stadium chanting “who’s your daddy?” And you’re trying to place that ball two inches off the plate or you’re in a battle with Gary Sheffield where you’re trying 97 mph and he’s pulling it. You’re on the edge. You’re on the edge all the time. Keeping that concentration level was really difficult, especially if we have a lot of distractions around the timing of your game.”
In his 18-year career, Martinez was part of five postseason runs. Eight of his 16 career postseason pitching appearances (14 starts) were against the Yankees. Their fans tormented him for years, relishing in his struggles and incensed by his victories.
The first time he faced them in the postseason was Game 3 of the 1999 ALCS, and he shut them out for seven innings, striking out 12 and only allowing two hits and a pair of walks. But in 2003, it went differently. Between games 3 and 7, he allowed a combined nine earned runs over 14 1/3 innings.
Then, in September of 2004, as the Sox chased the Wild Card, the Yankees rocked Pedro again, first in the Bronx, and a week later, in Boston. It was after the second shelling that he mused,
“What can I say? Just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy.”
There was no social media back then (if you exclude MySpace and Friendster), but the soundbite went as viral as anything could go back then. When the Sox clinched the Wild Card and made it to the ALCS, Yankees fans emptied the shelves of their local Staples and showed up to games with homemade ‘Who’s your daddy?’ posters. Pedro started games 2 and 5 and pitched an inning in relief in the historic Game 7. None of his appearances were scoreless, but the team he’d put on his back so many times did the same for him.
On that final night, Boston was New York’s daddy.
