Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Yesterday and today

Memo to David Ortiz: when I said in yesterday’s post that Monday afternoon’s game would give us “a chance to do it all over again,” I didn’t mean it quite that literally. But, hey, whatever works for you.

This guy is just so freaking awesome.

I really love him. And so do you. So does everyone.

(Boston Globe, Jim Davis)

Nine in a row.

Now, depleted bullpen and mortal closer be damned, it’s time to “Meet the Mets” for the first time since 2001 and try to make it ten.

Could it be a preview of things to come?

At least we can finally put the past behind us.

Or can we?

Because they’re asking that same stupid question again.

To boo, or not to boo?

Please, not this again.

Mike Celizic puts it most bluntly:

For seven years, most of them brilliant, Pedro Martinez gave the Boston Red Sox everything he had and everything they could have wanted. He copped two Cy Young Awards, won 117 games against just 37 losses — a .760 winning percentage — and he won a game in the 2004 World Series in which the Red Sox broke their 85-year run of futility.

Considering all he’s done for Boston, there’s just one thing the Fenway faithful can possibly do when he scales the Fenway Park mound Wednesday night for the first time since chasing the free-agent bonanza to the New York Mets after the 2004 season.

They’ve got to boo him like no one not named Roger Clemens has ever been booed in Boston’s little jewel of a ballpark. They’ve got to hiss and scream and bellow until the air is congested with spittle. They’ve got to boo his backside back to that mango tree in the Dominican Republic he once talked about sitting under.

Meanwhile, we have Boston Dirt Dogs, a site that, after campaigning long and loud for fans to cheer Johnny Damon upon his return in pintstripes, has lately been agitating just as vociferously for fans to boo the “Disingenuous Diva,” Pedro.

When Johnny returned to Fenway in the uniform of our hated blood-rivals, the mantra was “Give It Up for the Guy Who Gave His All... All the Time” and “Boston Never Forgets Red Sox World Series Champions. Period.”

Now that Pedro’s coming back, wearing the blue and orange of a team that hates the Yankees just as much as we do (and with whom we've got a lot more in common than you might think) BDD resurrects the same tired old chant: “Who's your da-ddy... Who's your da-ddy.”

Strange, that.

As far as I know, Pedro Martinez was also a World Series Champion.

As far as I know, he gave his all, all the time too. For seven magical years, he was one of the elite pitchers in the game, and he cemented his Hall of Fame bona fides here in the Hub.

I’d like to remind you of a time when Pedro Martinez’s starts were destination TV viewing. A seven-year period in which he put up stats like these:

1998: ERA: 1.90  WHIP: 0.932  K/9: 9.7

1999: ERA: 2.89  WHIP: 1.091  K/9: 13.2

2000: ERA: 1.74  WHIP: 0.737  K/9: 11.8

2001: ERA: 2.39  WHIP: 0.934  K/9: 12.6

2002: ERA: 2.26  WHIP: 0.923  K/9: 10.8

2003: ERA: 2.22  WHIP: 1.039  K/9: 9.9

2004: ERA: 3.90  WHIP: 1.171  K/9: 9.4

Finally — and this is important — as far as I know, Pedro Martinez didn’t sign with our most bitter rivals.

Was he a pain in the ass sometimes? Yes, he sure was. But he was also the best pitcher the Boston Red Sox have seen for a long, long, time. Yes, better even than this guy. And despite what Gammons says, I just don’t see it happening. Because it shouldn’t happen.

Interleague

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