Pedro Martinez News

A city seethes in anticipation. Outside Yankee Stadium, workmen wielding power washers crisscross the walkways on a crisp autumn afternoon, dutifully cleaning each and every groove between thousands of concrete squares.

Pedro Martinez has jokingly referred to himself as an old goat since joining the Phillies in July.

There's an Ed that hangs around my interlocked-up Yankee-fueled bar...but I'm not sure his last name is Roso.

It was 1990, and Pedro Martinez , then a scrawny 18-year-old in his first season of pro ball, had just allowed four runs in the first inning of a rookie-league game in Butte, Mont.

IT'S remarkable that here we are, all these years later, and this is the pitching match-up we are getting at Yankee Stadium in a World Series elimination game.

Two old warriors - the Phillies' Pedro Martinez, 38, and the Yanks' Andy Pettitte, 37 - will start in Game 6 of the World Series on Wednesday.

Phillies veteran right-hander Pedro Martinez has a chance to shut down the Yankees on Thursday night and place his club in control of the best-of-seven World Series.

As scripts go, Game 2 of this World Series promised to be pure Hollywood, with a South Bronx setting: Aging Hall of Fame-caliber hurler, relying on guts and guile, returns to baseball's biggest stage, perhaps for the final time.

It had been a relatively uneventful news conference by Pedro Martinez standards.

The Aroldis Chapman market is going to be interesting to judge. The Mariners are the latest team to jump seriously into the bidding, possibly hoping to have another front-line arm so they can deal Felix Hernandez before he reaches free agency.

In the bleachers, memories are longer than even the throw-backs of opposition home runs.

Derek Jeter, left, congratulates Hideki Matsui on his sixth-inning homer. World Series Game 1: Philadelphia 6, New York 1 Game 2: New York 3, Philadelphia 1 Series tied 1-1 Saturday: New York at Philadelphia, 4:57 p.m. Pettitte vs.

Pedro Martinez: Don Zimmer still hates Pedro Martinez . For obvious reasons - Red Sox, Mets - we feel the same way.

Pedro Martinez is hated equally by New York Yankees and Mets fans, and is the perfect centerpiece for tonight's World Series game.

World Series, Game 2: Yankees 3, Phillies 1 Excerpts from post-game news conferences: Yankees Mark Teixeira and manager Joe Girardi; Phillies Pedro Martinez and manager Charlie Manuel.

Mets fans suffered through a long season, and now must watch their two most-hated rivals compete for the World Series.

The Post is in Pedro Martinez's head. On the eve of his Game 2 World Series start against the Yankees, Martinez complained about a Post headline from 2004 that still weighs on the Phillies pitcher's mind.

Diamondbacks third base coach Chip Hale will now be manning that same spot with the New York Yankees.

The legend was born in the summer of 1988, on an otherwise anonymous field in the small town of La Vega, Dominican Republic.

This one sets up to be all of that and more, one that demands an answer to the deep, hard question: Which side do you root for, these hated guys or those hated guys? This is going to be one tough week for Mets fans.