GANNETT CONTENTONE

Mike Lopresti: Gannett sports columnist

Originally published: November 3, 2009

2 pitching veterans ready for World Series battle

By MIKE LOPRESTI, Gannett

NEW YORK - How nice. A senior citizens night at the World Series.

Pedro Martinez vs. Andy Pettitte in Game 6, and they're going to party like it's 1999. There's not only a high-stakes pitching duel scheduled Wednesday night in Yankee Stadium, but high-mileage. These two warhorses have been on opposite sides for so long, one might as well be named Grant, and the other one Lee.

Pettitte, 37, was winning World Series games when Ryan Howard was in high school.

Martinez, 38, was pitching in the postseason for Boston when Mark Teixeira was a Georgia Tech freshman.

Their long roads have often intersected, always as dedicated professionals. But they have never shared a stage quite like Wednesday night's.

"Two old goats out there doing the best they can," Martinez said Tuesday.

"Me and Derek (Jeter) were talking in the clubhouse last night, just how strange is this," Pettitte said, "after all the battles.

"To come full circle . . . it's going to be neat."

They are old enough to understand what they had to give to the game. They have seen too many others come and go, not to know how special Wednesday is.

"I'm sure he feels the same way I do," Pettitte said. "Very blessed, very fortunate."

Right.

"This is just a great gift to me," Martinez said. "This is a blessing."

Their first meeting would appear to be May 31, 1998. Pettitte was knocked out by the Red Sox in the third inning. Martinez lasted into the sixth, but was relieved after giving up a three-run homer to a Yankees catcher named . . . Joe Girardi.

Now, you might have noticed, he's the manager.

"I think we got smoked," Girardi said Tuesday when the game was mentioned. "So it was no consolation."

The Red Sox won 13-7. That's a pretty good memory for a man with the Philadelphia Phillies lineup on his mind.

"I figured both guys were going to be around for a long time," Girardi said.

The two graybeards face a hazardous mission Wednesday, because the World Series has reached a most delicate stage.

All the Yankees want from Pettitte is to lead them to a championship, before the Phillies truly get second wind.

All the Phillies want from Martinez is to ignore the Bronx bedlam around him and save them to play another day.

It's no place for excitable kids, and they aren't.

Pettitte has won 17 postseason games, more than any pitcher in history.

"I don't think he's going to be over-anxious," said Jorge Posada.

Martinez - out of work four months ago - is in the midst of a career revival that has proven what a mind can do for a pitcher, when the body loses a step.

"You're not going to outsmart Pedro," Teixeira said.

They are savvy enough to know the other pitcher is not their problem Wednesday.

"It makes a good story," Pettitte said. But? "I've got my hands full with their lineup."

And they are near enough to the end to understand what it means to leave a legacy. Martinez - whose press sessions can be even better than his changeup - delivered a lively monologue Tuesday on the quirks of being remembered.

"I'm pretty sure that my name will be mentioned. I don't know which way," he said. "People tend to actually give you props about the good things, but that's after you die. So I'm hoping to get it before I die. I don't want to die and then hear everybody say, 'Oh, there goes one of the best players ever.'

"If you're going to give me props, just give them to me right now."

Ask teammates to explain the two, and the answers are nearly uniform. They work hard and know what they're doing; simple qualities that have carried them to the same bright place on the same big night - even with their most powerful days long behind them.

"A good pitch is a good pitch," Pettitte said. "Changing speeds, location and you'll continue to get guys out. I think a lot of guys have a hard time making that adjustment."

"What you see," Martinez said, "is a combination of experience and instinct. It's just instinct, surviving."

That's the word. Two survivors pitch in the World Series on Wednesday night.

Contact Mike Lopresti at mlopresti@gannett.com

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ABOUT MIKE

Quote: "Of course, I have to say who won. But I'd better say more. If not, I'm useless. They don't need me. I have to give readers something extra than what they've seen on TV. Or why read?"

Favorite sport: college basketball.

Career: Sportswriter, (Richmond, Ind.) Palladium-Item, 1970-1981; Gannett News Service and Gannett ContentOne, since 1982.

First GNS assignment: Super Bowl XVI.

Born: Richmond, Ind.

Ball State University graduate.

Married since 1976.

In the press box

World Series: 27

Final Four: 28

Super Bowl: 26

NBA Finals: 25

Masters: 25