He might be closer to the end than the beginning, but the 38 year old Pedro Martinez showed last night that he still can put on a show, on the mound or at the microphone.

First, on the mound…he didn’t have to come out for the seventh inning, when he gave up another run. Mark Teixeira hit a hanging change-up for a home run in the 4th, and Hideki Matsui hit one off his shoe-tops for a home run in the 6th. 

Look at the first inning…strikes out Jeter, strikes out Damon, and fooled Teixeira, getting him to pop-up. Like Cliff Lee the night before, you saw early he had it.

Was he as good as AJ Burnett? Nope. Burnett was brilliant. But Pedro, for a guy who wasn’t on a team until mid-July, was pretty darn good.

Post-game…This is why you have to love him. Watch his post-game press conference here…Some of our favorite Martinez quotes from his two pressers (one after the game, one the day before…

• “I know they really want to root for me. It’s just that I don’t play for the Yankees, that’s all. I’ve always been a good competitor and they love that. I’m a New Yorker, as well. If I was on the Yankees, I’d probably be a king over here.”
• “I remember one guy sitting with his daughter, and saying all kinds of nasty stuff…It’s a shame you’re saying all these things. I had to stop and tell him becasue I am a father myself…What kind of example are you sitting?”
• “I’m older and wiser. The game remains the same, the game doesn’t change.”
• “I don’t know if you realize this, but becasue of you guys (the media), I might be at times, the most infulential player that ever stepped in Yankee Stadium.”
• “I have all the respect in the world for the way they enjoy being fans. Sometimes they might be giving you the middle finger, just like they will be cursing you and telling you what color underwear you’re wearing. All those things you can hear when you’re a fan. But at the end of the day, they’re just great fans that want to see the team win. I don’t have any problem with that.”

Here’s some more from his presser on Wednesday before game one.

Ultimately, he’s still Pedro. You can see what that meant to BlueClaws players when he was here in August. And if this series goes six games, and you have to figure it will, then we should see him one more time. Can’t wait.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:56 am and is filed under General Baseball, Phillies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.