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BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG
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As I type these words on the morning of Monday, October 13, I can hear the sounds of helicopters hovering over the Fenway Park outfield in attempt to dry the waterlogged sod just a block and a half from the Phoenix offices. It is an appropriate sound, and perhaps might bring to mind the predominant noise that accompanied the fall of Saigon in the spring of 1975. Anarchy and lawlessness ruled in the South Vietnamese capital then, and Fenway Park on Saturday was as close to a war zone as Boston has seen since the busing controversies of the ’70s. How did a baseball game take on such a bitter flavor that Red Sox manager Grady Little said the ALCS had seen itself "upgraded from a battle to a war"? The Yankees–Red Sox rivalry has always had hints of a Hatfields-and-McCoys feud to it, and there certainly have been incidents in the past where fisticuffs, choice words, and fur flew. But one would be hard-pressed to match the sheer madness that erupted on Fenway’s hallowed turf as the sun began to set during Saturday’s game three. Haven’t heard about it? The Cliffs Notes version is that Saturday’s game featured two of baseball’s marquee pitchers facing off against each other in a series that was even after the first two games in the Bronx. Pedro Martinez racked up a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but it gradually became evident that the Sox ace was not at his best. The visitors halved the lead in the second when number-eight hitter Karim Garcia laced a two-out single to right, scoring Jorge Posada, who had doubled leading off the inning. When Derek Jeter homered to left in the third, the score was tied, and Martinez’s counterpart, Roger Clemens, had begun to settle down after his first-inning difficulties. In the fourth, things got interesting, to say the least. Posada walked, Nick Johnson singled to right, and Japanese import Hideki Matsui — who had been heretofore 0-for-12 against Martinez — doubled to right, scoring Posada with the go-ahead run. With first base open, Pedro could have walked Garcia to load the bases, or maybe even have faced the right-fielder who is batting just .167 for the series (and is a career .243 hitter). Instead, Martinez threw it at the back of his neck, and as Garcia ducked, the untamed pitch struck the bat and bounded away. Home-plate umpire Tim McClelland called it a hit batsman, and the bases were loaded as voices were raised and tempers began to flare. Martinez escaped the inning with just one more run being scored, but in the bottom of the inning, Manny Ramirez came to the plate with the expectation that Clemens would retaliate. When the Rocket came in high (but not tight) with a 1-2 pitch, Ramirez flinched before stepping toward the mound, bat in hand, ready for a confrontation. Both benches emptied, and as the players converged around home plate, Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer circled around the scrum and came charging at Martinez, who straight-armed him aside, and the 72-year-old Zimmer ended up flat on his face. Ultimately, order was restored, and no further contretemps erupted throughout the game (other than a confusing bullpen incident late in the game in which a Sox bullpen worker was allegedly pummeled by some Yankees players), which was won by the Bronx Bombers, 4-3, behind Clemens’s six solid innings of five-hit ball. Martinez, who settled down after the Zimmer incident to retire the next 11 Yankees, left after seven innings and took the loss but not the blame. Zimmer, in a Sunday press conference prior to the game-four rainout, appropriately apologized to all involved. No such explanations or words of contrition were uttered by the key figures from the Boston clubhouse, despite owner John Henry’s comment that he "wouldn’t mind seeing that come from our side." It was interesting to note that, as Boston Herald beat writer Tony Massarotti wrote on Sunday, "not a single Red Sox player defended Martinez’s pitch to Garcia. Not one." And why should they? The squad that made "Cowboy Up" and team hugs standard operating procedure saw itself splintered by the selfish antics of its star pitcher. It had to be difficult if not impossible for the Sox players to understand why Martinez took it upon himself to throw at Garcia’s head (and thereby set the tone for the rest of the game and series), rather than face him in a mano a mano pitching match-up. Those who have watched Martinez in the past know that he has pinpoint control, and he, like Clemens, has been able to dominate the sport because of his ability to throw a baseball to any specific point around home plate. Unfortunately, both pitchers are also known for all too often using the brushback and HBP as weapons of intimidation. No one can tell me that, in the case of the fourth-inning high jinks, Pedro just let a pitch get away from him. It was a message pitch — and a dangerous one at that, even if the pitch didn’t actually hit Garcia — and it is no surprise that Martinez has averaged 10 HBPs a year over the course of the past seven seasons. On that same note, though, it’s a bit disingenuous of the Yankees coaches, and particularly Clemens, to say that they’re "disappointed" in Martinez, or that they’ve "lost respect" for him. No one over the years has utilized the brushback pitch more effectively than Clemens, and his toss at the noggin of Soxer Kevin Millar back in July almost set that series afire. Also ignored by the broadcasters and correspondents writing about Saturday’s game was the fact that Clemens went high and tight against Millar just two innings later, and no warning or ejection ensued, even though it was blatantly obvious that Clemens was getting in a final dose of tit for tat. The Mets’ Mike Piazza could tell you about Clemens’s reputation, and even the angelic Mariano Rivera made no friends here when he flattened Sox third baseman Shea Hillenbrand with some not-so-saintly chin music in April 2002. For the Yankees to harp on Martinez’s alleged reputation as a headhunter and an instigator is a bit of a stretch. That does not get Martinez off the hook, however. If the pitch at Garcia’s melon was an "accident," then he certainly could have shown some contrition right away, rather than starting a war of words with the Yankees dugout, allegedly pointing at his Sox cap and yelling at Posada, "Next time, I’ll hit you in the head" (according to the Boston Globe’s Jackie MacMullan). Frankly, I believe that what Martinez did was cowardly, especially against the number-eight hitter, whom he should have been able to master easily if he had put his mind to pitching rather than posturing. Also consider, as WLVI’s Mike Ratté noted on Sunday, that if the pitch to Garcia had missed the batter completely (rather than hitting the bat or his shoulder), then the resulting wild pitch would have advanced the runners (and scored one), thus putting Martinez in an even deeper hole. Pedro didn’t consider any of that. He was angry because his magical repertoire of pitching weapons was not baffling the invaders from the south, and he was beginning to get tagged. To be sure, Martinez struggled mightily to get the Yankees hitters out throughout the first four innings, and his fastball was topping out at around 85. When Jeter rocked a meatball curveball over the Monster seats, and the rest of the Pinstripers subsequently began to take him all over the yard, Martinez’s frustrations took hold, and in his blind rage he forgot the team concept and staged a one-man war. The resulting brouhaha proved too much of a distraction for his teammates, and they went down meekly to defeat over the course of the remaining five innings. If I have to defend Martinez in any capacity, it is regarding Zimmer’s raging-bull act. According to witnesses, Zimmer was coming at Martinez with a raised hand, and Martinez, 40 years younger and a helluva lot more agile, could easily have popped the old man in the face rather than just grabbing him by the shoulders and tossing him aside. Granted, that’s no way to treat our senior citizens, but Zimmer was coming at him with a crazed look on his face and had gotten a running start from the dugout steps. Who knows what the old goat was thinking, but he’s lucky that he wasn’t hurt more seriously than the small cut he sustained between his beady eyeballs. But at least Zim admitted his mistake and his role in the fracas. Martinez, ever silent to the media and inquiring fans, did not. Nor did Ramirez, who must be held accountable for his actions. Let’s admit for the purposes of this argument that he expected some retaliation from Clemens when he led off the bottom of the fourth inning. Does that excuse him for instigating the near-riot by beginning to charge Clemens when the Yanks’ ace threw ball two high? The pitch was pretty much over the plate, and Ramirez had absolutely no right to escalate the simmering tensions. He did more talking to Clemens 60 feet away than he has to the press all season long, and he too has been absent from offering up any admission of guilt or contrition. Sadly, the actions of these Dominican superstars have tainted the Red Sox image, and it will be difficult for America to see them as knights on white horses in the remaining playoff games. All season long, out-of-town fans have been hearing about the diva antics of Martinez and Ramirez, and throughout the post-season have been treated to highlight reels of sluggers standing and admiring prodigious home runs. Now, they’ve managed to make the Yankees look like the good guys in all this, and the images that will stick are those of Pedro throwing a bean ball at the number-eight hitter instead of pitching out of the mess; Manny taking exception to a high fastball and trying to be the man that nobody’s gonna mess with; and, like it or not, Martinez’s bulging eyes as the charging Zimmer bears down on him, and the resulting belly flop. Simply put, the Red Sox players who were center-stage in these embarrassing incidents need to step forward and tell everybody what they’re feeling, rather than disappear as they have all season into the cone of silence and childish pouting. It’s not us against them anymore, at least as far as the team and the media go. These players have got to become human again to their fans, not the mindless provocateurs that helped lead their team toward a critical defeat on Saturday. Indeed, the game-three free-for-all has continued to overshadow the fact that Nomar Garciaparra hasn’t driven in a post-season run since game three of the 1999 ALCS, that AL batting champ Bill Mueller is 4-for-30 (.133) in the playoffs, former demigod David Ortiz is 3-for-30 (.100), and John Burkett may be called on to stave off elimination in New York on Wednesday. Thus far, the Yankees have remained focused and have taken care of business ever since the three-HR barrage that the Sox unleashed in Yankee Stadium in the series opener. The Sox are doing their best to win it on the field, but when these two teams meet, it never seems to be that simple, does it? Fans around here and beyond remember the fiasco that erupted at Fenway after some blown calls in game four of the ALCS against these same Yankees in 1999. God help us if it comes down to a Clemens-Martinez rematch in game seven of this current series, because the Yankee Stadium hordes will be screaming for blood and ready to unleash their terror on unsuspecting New England senior citizens. When we meet again in these pages (later this week), this holy war will be over, and one of these two franchises will be moving on to the World Series. If it’s the Yankees, that will mean that they utilized Saturday's on-field antics as a rallying point and dispatched the team whose destiny-laden season came apart at the seams in the October twilight of game three. If it’s the Red Sox who advance, well, the ghosts of the past will finally have been put to rest, and another startling chapter of Yankees–Red Sox history will have been overcome and rewritten. "Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com, and Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com
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