NEW YORK - The Red Sox are hoping the frustration that led Pedro Martinez to say last month he was ready to "call the Yankees my daddy" will turn into motivation when he starts Game 2 tonight.
Martinez passed on a chance to explain himself Tuesday by skipping the customary, though not mandatory, day-before-start interview session. Red Sox officials and players think he'll make his point tonight.
"He's going to show up on the mound, and that's what I care about," manager Terry Francona said.
After losing to the Yankees twice in late September, and evening his career record against them to 10-10 (the only AL team he doesn't have a winning record against), Martinez practically made a concession speech.
He said he "can't find a way" to beat the Yankees. That he wished "they'd disappear and never come back." Then, using a line that by now has made its way onto T-shirts, signs and sports reports and is likely to be repeated in various forms - and prefaced with various adjectives - a few thousand times by the Yankee Stadium fans tonight, he added, "All I can do is tip my cap and call the Yankees my daddy."
The Sox are trying to downplay the comment, likening it to what anyone would say after a bad day at the office, but it has obviously become a popular topic. The Yankee Stadium fans started chanting "Who's your daddy" in the third inning Tuesday.
"I think he's going to hear a lot about it, and hopefully it motivates him," centerfielder Johnny Damon said. "He's definitely not going to be able to hide out there. There will be 55,000 people saying the same thing."
Kevin Millar, the team's usual spokesman, said he found the issue rather amusing.
"There should be a lot of (country singer) Toby Keith played here today, that song Who's Your Daddy," he said. "All the articles, "your daddy this,' "your daddy that,' there's only one way to do it, and time will tell. If he goes out and throws the way he's capable, it looks like he's a genius. ... He's a competitor, and if anyone doubts him they don't know baseball."
Plus, Millar said he was a bit hurt by Martinez's admission. "I'm his daddy, not the Yankees," Millar said. "He answers to me first."
PRIME TIME: Given the broad appeal of the Sox-Yankee matchup, and the lack of appeal of the Astros-Cards matchup, MLB flip-flopped the weekend schedule and moved the ALCS game from 4 p.m. to the more desirable 7:30 p.m. slot.
IT'S LIKE DEJA VU: This is the seventh time the same teams have made it to an LCS in back-to-back years, the first since the Yankees and Mariners played in 2000 and '01. What's interesting is that all six times, the team that won the first won the second.
CHANGING UP: The Sox added reliever Ramiro Mendoza, a former Yankee, to their ALCS roster in place of infielder Kevin Youkilis. If something happened to third baseman Bill Mueller they would have to move second baseman Mark Bellhorn to third. The next option would be reserve first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. ... The Yankees made no changes, keeping Jason Giambi inactive.
MISCELLANY: Former Rays staffer Orestes Destrade is doing Spanish-language radio work for ESPN. ... The Yankees held a moment of silence for former NL MVP Ken Caminiti, who died Sunday. ... The Yankees made their record 12th LCS appearance.
