BOSTON – Ladies and gentlemen, we have an American League Championship Series.
The match of the moment, Roger Clemens vs. Pedro Martinez, proved all coming attraction, which brought us back to the matchup of the century, Yankees vs. Red Sox. Because after the Red Sox’ 13-1 dismantling yesterday of Clemens andthe Yankees, the pennantis again in doubt.For the Yankees, this suddenly has the feel of a best-of-six. Unless the Yankees think a Game 7 rematch between Clemens and Martinez would favor them; a notion as plausible after yesterday as Chuck Knoblauch winning a 1999 Gold Glove.
“We’re not basing our whole series on when Pedro is going to pitch,” Scott Brosius said. “We’re just trying to win four games first.”
That became harder for the Yankees as Martinez, despite having what he termed “nothing,” worked seven shutout, two-hit innings with a dainty fastball. The Yanks still lead the ALCS 2-1 and have home-field advantage. But the Red Sox have the Pedro advantage. So the Yanks need to win two of the next three games or else face a man who in his last two outings against them has allowed no runs on three hits with 29 strikeouts in 16 innings.
The Yankees are positioned similarly to the 1986 and ’88 Mets. In 1986, the Mets knew they had to win the pennant in six games or face almost certain defeat in Game 7 against Houston’s Mike Scott. The Mets won in six and went on to beat Boston in the World Series. In 1988, the Mets knew they had to win in six or else face Los Angeles’ Orel Hershiser in Game 7. The Mets lost to Hershiser in Game 7 and the Dodgers went on to win the World Series.
Martinez is having the most magical season by a pitcher since Hershiser’s 1988. Can it make eight decades of Red Sox misery, specifically when it comes to the Yankees, disappear? The Yanks are best off never finding that out. Andy Pettitte and Orlando Hernandez can restore the Yankee rotation dominance and never allow this series to leave Fenway. David Cone is a safety valve in Game 6 back in The Bronx.
But Martinez in Game 7 now looms over this series as the antidote to The Curse of the Bambino. Only four times in 30 years of the LCS has a team trailed 0-2 and won the pennant. But these Red Sox have Martinez, whose post-season ledger is 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA. Boston rallied from 0-2 in the Division Series against Cleveland with Martinez pitching six no-hit innings of relief to the win the clincher.
“Two different series, two different teams,” Derek Jeter said. “We’re not Cleveland.”
But Clemens is not the guy who prompted visions of a dream playoff matchup. Right now, he is a worthy adversary to Martinez in memory only. Rather than the Ali vs. Frazier or Evert vs. Navratilova of the buildup, Clemens was Elmer Fudd to Martinez’s Bugs Bunny – a patsy to be beaten up and mocked.
“Roger is a big boy,” George Steinbrenner said as he strolled around the losing clubhouse. “These things happen. He just can’t let it happen again.”
“Again” would mean a Game 7 the Yanks must treat like West Nile-like-virus-carrying mosquitoes – to be avoided with top priority. Because Clemens’ postseason now has the pattern of his regular season, a strong start to build optimism followed by an optimism-busting start in which Clemens talks about how good his stuff was despite results to the contrary. As it turned out those seven shutout innings in the Division Series clincher revealed more about the October softness of Texas than anything relevant about Clemens. Instead, the evidence mounted further that if Clemens finally gets his World Series ring, it will be on the shoulders of champions rather than by his arm.
“Obviously, I would have liked to make a better showing than this,” Clemens said about Game 3, but it really could have been about 1999 overall.
After a career in which each of Clemens starts were “Roger and Me,” this one was “Pedro and Him.” He was second fiddle and third rate. The great anticipation for this Game 3 was created by the pitcher Clemens used to be, and Martinez is. In the end, this turned out to be awesome vs. awful.
Clemens had 95 mph heat, but again could not locate, making it essentially hard-throwing batting practice for Boston. A back injury robbed Martinez of his high-octane fastball. But, unlike Clemens, the younger pitcher adapted with a mystifying changeup and a mystical aura. Great pitchers do not always need great pitches to win. They are able to use their makeup to intimidate opponents and encourage teammates. Clemens had it in the past, but never in the playoffs. Martinez has demonstrated it at all times.
“He’s the best pitcher in baseball,” Paul O’Neill said. “Period.”
And against the best pitcher, you can’t put your team behind 2-0 after seven pitches as Clemens did. Martinez allowed more than two runs in just six of 33 regular-season starts. Clemens would remove all mystery by permitting two more runs in the second. He was gone before retiring a batter in the third.
“I hope I don’t have to pitch [in this series] again,” Clemens said. “But if I do, I’ll try to be ready.”
Clemens vs. Martinez this time meant the end of the Yankees’ 12-game, post-season winning streak, the Red Sox’ 10-game ALCS losing streak (which dated to Clemens’ Game 7 1986 triumph against the Angels) and the Yankees post-season cruise. In one afternoon, the Red Sox and their fans tried to retaliate against 80 years of frustration.
When they were not booing Clemens, they were serenading him with derisive chants of “Rog-er, Rog-er” similar to the “Dar-ryl” cry in 1986 toward Strawberry. Long after Clemens was gone, the crowd broke into a sing-song “Where is Roger?”
It is a question Yankee fans could have been asking all year. And it is one they do not want to answer this way on Thursday – pitching Game 7 vs. Martinez.