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Postgame reaction

BOSTON -- What they were saying after tonight's 10-2 Red Sox win:

TERRY FRANCONA:
-- We certainly have the ability to win when we get down, but it's a heck of a lot easier to play [when you're ahead]. We had a good approach early, [caught] a break [on the two-run error by left fielder Lastings Milledge] that gets us two runs, then we add on with the four [in the third inning]. It's a good way to play.
-- I don't think [having knowledge of Pedro Martinez from when he was in Boston helped tonight]. It's a heck of a lot different playing behind someone than facing somebody. I thought we had a good approach. We were patient when we needed to be, made them throw the ball over the played, stayed up the middle. We've been pretty consistent with that approach and it's been paying off.

PEDRO MARTINEZ
-- Actually, I am not disappointed at all. I think I won the game on one side. I think the reception that I got really mattered [more than] what I did out there today, which wasn't much. I am extremely happy, obviously, to come back [to Boston]. I didn't have my A game tonight. They took advantage of it. I couldn't make pithes and basically you tip your hat and let it go and get ready for next time.
-- [The reception from the fans] meant a lot more than, obviously, the game. I don't think that not even a win will give me the satisfaction I feel from that reception I got from the fans. And not only the fans, but also the players and everybody.
-- [When asked what he had to say to the fans] That I will always appreciate them and keep them in my heart regardless what has happened after the result of the game. I will always remember that as one of the best moments of my life.
-- I actually felt really comfortable in Boston. Just the fact that I was able to come back and be received the way I was received, was a great feeling. Stuff about the game . . . it happens and hopefully you have more outings for the rest of the season to make it up.
-- I didn't have anything. I couldn't spot the ball well and the Red Sox are a hot team right now and will probably unload on anybody right now. They are a very good team. When you sit there and you start to pitch, hitter by hitter, and you start to think that anyone can get a hit next and it might be Gonzalez or Youkilis or Loretta. That tells you how good of a team they have and you just have to give it up to them.
-- Yeah, I did get caught up in the emotion a little bit and that threw me a little bit off, especially on that ground ball in the first inning and Youkilis running along kind of threw me off with no one on third. And then I made sure I got the out at first. After that, trouble.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art  at 10:59 PM | Permalink

Make that 10-1

BOSTON -- Two more runs for the Red Sox, this time off Darren Oliver in the sixth.

Coco Crisp led off with an infield single and, after a lengthy at-bat, Alex Gonzalez drew a walk. A passed ball moved the runners to second and third, from where Crisp scored on a single by Kevin Youkilis and, one out later, Loretta came in on a sacrifice fly by David Ortiz.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art  at 9:03 PM | Permalink

Tough town

BOSTON -- Lastings Milledge, the Mets' defensively challenged left fielder, received a sarcastic standing ovation from the fans in left field and near third base as he made his way back to the dugout after catching Mike Lowell's fly ball to end the fifth. Read below for Milledge's earlier trials and tributions.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art  at 8:45 PM | Permalink

Anatomy of a rout

BOSTON -- And now the details of a most unexpected evening at Fenway Park.

After Josh Beckett had retired the Mets in order in the first, the Red Sox began running at Pedro Martinez immediately. Kevin Youkilis started things off with a single to center, and Mark Loretta followed with a single to right.

The finger of defensive blame will be pointed at left fielder Lastings Milledge -- and deservedly so -- for his antics later in the inning, but Martinez poured gasoline on the kindling for the explosion that followed with his own mental miscue on the next play. David Ortiz hit a one-hopper back to the mound, starting what should have been a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play. But Martinez inexplicably turned to throw to third, to nail the lead runner, Youkilis.

There was no play there because the Mets had their overshift on for Ortiz, and third baseman David Wright was stationed near shortstop and wasn't near the base. Martinez then looked to second, but Loretta, running hard, was almost there. That left only one option -- at first base -- and Martinez made it, retiring Ortiz.

So instead of having a runner on third and two outs, the Sox had runners had second and third and one out. Thus, after a walk to Manny Ramirez, the fly ball to center by Trot Nixon was a sacrifice fly that gave Boston a 1-0 lead, instead of being the third out of the inning.

The damage was compounded when Jason Varitek singled to center, scoring Loretta. And then it multiplied when Milledge -- who had misplayed a fly ball on Tuesday night -- twisted, turned, danced under, and eventually dropped, Mike Lowell's fly ball to the base of the wall in left, allowing two runs to score and giving the Sox a 4-0 lead.

That put Pedro in a hole. The Sox put him out of his misery in the third.

A double by Ramirez and a single by Nixon made it 5-0. Varitek moved Nixon to third with a single to right, and Nixon then scored when Lowell grounded into a double play. But Martinez extended the inning by walking Coco Crisp, and Alex Gonzalez made it 8-0 with a homer to left.

Carlos Delgado's two-out homer in the fourth made the score 8-1, and that's where we stand at 8:40 p.m. as the Red Sox come to bat in the bottom of the fifth.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art  at 8:25 PM | Permalink

Pedro's out

BOSTON -- As expected, Pedro Martinez didn't come out for the bottom of the fourth.

He was replaced by another ex-Red Sox pitcher, left-hander Darren Oliver. The Mets had narrowed their deficit to 8-1 in the top of the fourth on a long home run, into the bleachers behind the Boston bullpen, by Carlos Delgado with two outs.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art  at 8:20 PM | Permalink

Red Sox 8, Mets 0

BOSTON -- Make that EIGHT to nothing.

They're warming up in the Mets' bullpen after a two-run homer by Alex Gonzalez, which followed a two-out walk to Coco Crisp. Martinez is winding up to throw his 75th pitch as I write this -- he used it to strike out Kevin Youkilis -- and it would be a stunner if he came out to pitch in the fourth.

If he doesn't, his pitching line will read . . .

3 innings
7 hits
8 runs
6 earned runs
2 walks
1 strikeout

And, if what he said yesterday had any validity,

1 broken heart

Posted by Art  at 8:11 PM | Permalink

Red Sox 6, Mets 0 in the 3rd

BOSTON -- Remember all that pregame talk about a pitchers' duel between Pedro Martinez and Josh Beckett?

Well, Beckett's holding up his part of the bargain.

The same can't be said for Pedro, who, as we speak, is trailing the Red Sox, 6-0, with two outs in the third. The Sox scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning (thanks in no small part to the always entertaining Lastings Milledge, who is setting new comedy standards in left field during this series) and have added two more in the third.

More details to come . . .

Posted by Art  at 7:59 PM | Permalink

End of the Martinez/Boston love affair?

BOSTON -- The affection level for Pedro Martinez dimmed considerably at Fenway Park tonight when he drilled second baseman Mark Loretta on the wrist with an 0-and-2 pitch in the second inning.

It probably wasn't intentional -- it put a runner on base for David Ortiz with two outs -- but some boos wafted down nonetheless from the folks who watched Martinez hit batters at a league-leading pace during most of his years with the Red Sox.

Sox starter Josh Beckett answered Martinez with a high (though not very tight) pitch that sailed past Ramon Castro with one out in the third.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art  at 7:48 PM | Permalink

Unkind cut for Pedro

BOSTON -- After the Red Sox had jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning tonight, a group of fans in the left-field area began chanting ''Who's your daddy?'' at the beleaguered Pedro Martinez.

That, of course, had been the Yankee fans' insult of choice at Martinez in September and October 2004, after a frustrated Pedro had declared that the Yankees were his ''daddies'' after they beat him at Fenway Park on a Friday night in September.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art  at 7:16 PM | Permalink

No boos for Pedro

BOSTON -- Boo Pedro Martinez, as some had been advocating prior to the Mets' visit here?

Guess the sellout crowd in attendance tonight at Fenway Park missed the memo.

Martinez was given a raucous standing ovation as he made his way to the Mets' dugout after warming up. The cheers started as soon as he left the New York bullpen, and continued as he walked across the field.

He acknowledged the fans near second base, waving his left hand to the crowd. Then, with a right hand covered with a towel, he touched his heart several times.

However, just so everyone knew where their loyalties lie, the Sox fans also gave a rousing ovation to Josh Beckett, the Red Sox' starter, as he left the bullpen.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art  at 7:01 PM | Permalink