Pedro Martinez
Pedro Martinez
Pedro Jaime Martínez,, is a Dominican–American former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for five teams from 1992 to 2009, most notably the Boston Red Sox. From 2002 to 2006 he held the major league record for the highest career winning percentage by a pitcher with at least 200 decisions; with a final record of 219 wins and 100 losses, he retired with the fourth highest percentage in history, and the highest by a right-hander since the modern...
NationalityDominican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth25 October 1971
CitySanto Domingo, Dominican Republic
CountryDominica
At my Mom's house on the farm, it get's so dark, you look at the stars and and you feel like you can just reach out and grab them. I love her so much and I love this place so much, it hurts. I stay here because I need to find myself again after playing in the States. Here it's me talking. It's my soul talking.
When I go to the plate, I think about putting the ball in play. It's important to get on base and get some walks, but I don't go to the plate thinking of walking.
My first ball I ever got from a Big League player I actually got to purchase in Dodger Stadium in a silent auction, was Reggie Jackson.
I remember quotes in the paper, 'Here comes the man that New York loves to hate.' Man? None of you have probably ever eaten steak with me or rice and beans with me to understand what the man is about. You might say the player, the competitor, but the man? You guys have abused my name. You guys have said so many things, have written so many things.
I'm open to play for anybody that would give me respect, treat me the right way, and actually going to make me feel comfortable.
I just try to do what I have to do and let the people out there do what they have to do, which is have fun, scream, yell and jump around. I try to do what I have to do, which is play baseball, and I can only play in that piece of area there, so that's what I try to do.
At 2-0 I wanted to throw a strike, I wanted to get him. It was a cutter. But Mike didn't waste any time and he does really well against me in his career.
There's no need for me to do that, or for anybody to do that. Nothing happened. I'm just going to go about my business and keep my cool, like always.
I wasn't sure when to push it or what to expect. Now I know what to expect. Hopefully, I'll be able start mixing everything together and see how it goes. As of now, I'm planning on pitching opening day. If not, I'll pitch on the fifth day. I guarantee I'll have one spot in the rotation.
I'm still making a lot of pitches for the amount of innings I'm pitching. When I'm on, I don't need that many pitches. When things start to go wrong, I don't feel that confident about my pitches. They're coming around, but I'm not there yet. So all of the credit goes to my teammates and how well they have done behind me.
I would get some that say 'I am not fan' and they were probably a Yankee fan and there would be some mean letters. It was a little disappointing.
I don't go out there expecting no-hitters or anything like that. I go out there trying to make things happen, actually expecting them to hit the ball, but where I want, not precisely where they want to. That's what happened today, and I was lucky enough to be flirting with a no-hitter.
Please write that they were really, really nice - extremely nice - at Immigration. The court where they swore you in, the people were beautiful.
I felt good. I felt a little stiff, but that was expected. After I threw a few pitches and I let it go, everything went back to normal.