Martinez Aces Test Against Washburn

BOSTON —  The Angels needed Pedro Martinez Friday night.

They got Jarrod Washburn.

Washburn is having a splendid season. He has made himself the ace of the Angels. His 15-5 record is worthy of national notice.

But Washburn couldn’t make the Red Sox look as if they were batting during an earthquake.

Martinez did that to the Angels. Martinez, with his fastball that moves seven ways, with his curveball that creates a parabola, with his roiling changeup, made it seem as if the Angels were standing on a rocking, rolling fault line instead of the batter’s box at Fenway Park.

“Pedro is an amazing human being,” Red Sox Manager Grady Little said after Boston had beaten the Angels, 4-1, and Martinez had pitched eight magnificent innings, had given up only a lonely, solo home run to Troy Glaus, had moved his record to 17-3.

In a pennant race where only a game or two separates the top three teams in the American League West and the top three teams in the AL wild-card race, it is good to have “an amazing human being” take the mound.

As the Angels swung helplessly, hopelessly, as they trudged, one after another, with their heads down to and from the plate, it was clear. This game had been lost when Little decided to hold Martinez out of his scheduled Thursday night start against Texas and save him for this test against a team Boston is trailing in the wild-card hunt and against a young pitcher who is coming into his own.

Washburn could have taken it as a compliment that the Red Sox juggled their pitching rotation so Martinez, the best the AL has to offer, suddenly was rescheduled.

But it was clear Washburn was not going to seize this chance to mark himself as an equal to Martinez, as a man who wins no matter what. Boston’s leadoff hitter, Ricky Henderson, blasted a line drive to center. Darin Erstad made a lunging, leaning, running catch, a great play, but this was not the way Washburn should have been sending a message, a Martinez message, a message that says, “You can’t hit me. Don’t even think about it.”

And that’s what the Angels needed.

They needed an ace who walked off the mound after the top of the eighth and raised his right thumb in triumph and who left the opposing batters mostly swinging and missing at noise or pounding the baseball weakly into the dirt or weakly into the air, harmless puffs of popcorn drifting softly into the gloves of the outfielders.

The Angels needed an ace who smiled as he walked onto the field, who threw with the light, live arm of a man who believes every game is his victory instead of only hoping it is.

Martinez is supposed to have a weak arm, a sore arm. His velocity is down, the angst of the Red Sox nation is up. Martinez had to be shut down last year with a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. On opening day 2002, Martinez gave up nine hits and eight runs in less than four innings, and all of Boston was certain the season was over, that Martinez’s career was finished.

“Pedro keeps getting better and better,” Little said Friday night. “He keeps getting stronger and stronger. It looks like he’ll make it through the season.”

You think?

Martinez, 30, is a pitching virtuoso, a Pavarotti. Just as you don’t have to be a musician to understand Pavarotti’s greatness, you don’t have to be a pitching coach to appreciate Martinez. Just watch.

His pitches are fluid, washing up to the batters as if they were waves on the beach, relentlessly powerful and mesmerizing. Martinez loves what he does. He embraces the pressures of pitching here, with the panting fanatics who revel in doom and distrust any good fortune, with the ache of cursed history in the bones of every Red Sox fan.

“I understand my responsibility,” Martinez said. He was speaking of being pulled from the lineup and his expected start on Thursday. He was speaking of the importance of knocking down the Angel ace, of starting this critical four-game series the right way.

Martinez understands responsibility, but he understands so much more.

“Just watch the way he uses the plate,” Boston catcher Jason Varitek said.

Martinez is one of the few pitchers today who will come hard inside after a hitter the way Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Jim Bunning used to. “Pedro uses all of the plate,” Varitek said.

It seemed unfair. The Angels didn’t know where to look for the ball. It was never the same place twice and Martinez drove the Angels to desperation.

In the fourth inning, having fallen behind, 4-0, Orlando Palmeiro singled with one out. Garret Anderson followed with a well-struck double, a hit that might have meant something, a hit after a hit and maybe a sign Martinez could be taken. But Palmeiro was sent around third and toward home, chugging hard, testing the sometimes lazy arm and concentration of Boston right fielder Manny Ramirez.

But Ramirez was paying attention. His throw to cut-off man Rey Sanchez was accurate. Palmeiro was left to heave himself desperately at Varitek, hoping to jar the ball loose. Neither happened. Palmeiro was out. Brad Fullmer swung weakly at the next pitch and was out.

Washburn never made the Red Sox feel desperate. He gave up a hit in the first. He hit the first batter of the second inning, Shea Hillenbrand, gave up two more hits and was lucky only one run scored because Sanchez’s line drive to Palmeiro was hit so hard that it was a 9-6 double play to end the inning. The third inning was the end, three more runs to the Red Sox. It might as well have been 10.

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said, “I thought it was a well-pitched game on both sides.”

But against Martinez well-pitched isn’t good enough.

Only a masterpiece will do.

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Diane Pucin can be reached at [email protected].