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RAMON MARTINEZ |
THE ALL STARS
& PEDRO'S HISTORIC YEAR
1999
ALDS, GAME #3
Ramon Martinez
pitches gallantly
October 9, 1999
...
The Red Sox have made it an article of faith that they're at their
most dangerous when they're most shorthanded. Minus Nomar
Garciaparra, who sat out because of his sore right wrist, the Sox
extended summer for at least another day with a 9-3 swatting of the
Cleveland Indians, who lead the best-of-five American League Division
Series, 2-1, but couldn't close out a team whose only certifiable
superstars, Nomar and Pedro Martinez, were on unscheduled shore
leave.
Nomar’s
stand-in, Lou Merloni, jump-started two rallies, Ramon Martinez pitched
gallantly for nearly six innings, and slugging John Valentin won a wrestling
match with his evil twin, slinging John Valentin, overcoming his second ghastly
throwing error in three games by delivering two big hits: a tie-breaking home
run in the sixth inning and a tie-breaking two-run double in the seventh.
Merloni had
an idea Friday night that Garciaparra, his closest friend on the team, would be
unable to play because of recurring pain in his wrist. Rookie Brian Daubach, who
had promised there was still a little magic left in the Belleville Basher,
followed Valentin's bases-loaded ground-rule double with a three-run home run to
make the seventh a five-run inning, the biggest the Sox have enjoyed in the
postseason since they scored six for Luis Tiant against the Big Red Machine in
Game 1 of the 1975 World Series. Merloni would drive in the sixth run of the
inning three batters later. Daubach's home run, which cleared the camera well in
center field, came one pitch after he had clocked plate umpire Tim Welke in the
head with a backswing
Valentin,
who was hitless in his first 10 postseason at-bats but drove center fielder
Kenny Lofton to the track in the fourth, came up in the sixth and launched one
that even Lofton couldn't retrieve, a 409-foot home run into the triangle that
gave the Sox a 3-2 lead. That came off Jaret Wright, pressed into action when
Indians starter Dave Burba was forced out after four innings because of a
strained forearm.
Then, in the
very next Indians at-bat, in an uncanny imitation of his disastrous misplay in
Game 1, Valentin fielded a grounder and bounced another throw in the dirt,
allowing Lofton to score the tying run. Valentin inexplicably threw on the run
when he had enough time to take a seat on a Jordan's sofa. But he picked himself
up off the floor in the bottom of the inning with his double off reliever
Ricardo Rincon.
As lifts go,
however, it was tough to top the one the Sox received from Ramon Martinez, as
calm as Pedro the Younger is passionate. Ramon the Elder gave up a run in the
fourth on singles by Jim Thome and Harold Baines and a sacrifice fly by David
Justice. He left to a standing ovation in the sixth, an ovation that would have
been sweeter had he been able to hold onto a 2-1 lead. But the Indians pushed
across the tying run before he left on a double by Robbie Alomar, an infield
out, a walk, and a fielder's choice.
Ramon, who
struck out six and allowed just five hits while throwing 96 pitches, was saluted
as much for his gallantry and grace as his excellence.
Lowe, who
struck out Thome on three pitches after Valentin's error, a dramatic upgrade
from the home run ball he threw Thome after Valentin's misplay in Game 1, went 2
1/3 innings for the win.
A short
memory is handy if you play for the Red Sox. Or if you watch them. When it comes
to Boston baseball in October, too many of us have long memories. |
