Homecoming King by Jared Carrabis
V-Mart welcomes himself home


On Monday night, Victor Martinez put to rest all discussions of Jason Varitek having to be Daisuke Matsuzaka's personal catcher.

In my personal opinion, Martinez does not get even half the credit that he deserves in terms of handling a pitching staff. Of course, it's hard to stand out when you're catching for an organization that has had the services of one of the best game-callers in the history of the game for over a decade.

However, I think it's time to give credit where credit is due. He may not have caught four no-hitters, but just look what Clay Buchholz has turned into since Martinez started catching nearly all of his starts after becoming a staple in the Red Sox' rotation. The proof is in the numbers.

Varitek has spent 99 innings behind home plate with Buchholz on the mound, and in that time, the right-hander pitched his way to a 5.45 ERA. When hurling to Martinez, Buchholz's ERA is over 2 runs lower at 3.43 in 144.1 innings.

Even before coming to Boston, he caught not one, but two Cy Young Award-winners. The four no-hitters are historic in their own right, but if you put Martinez's two Cy Young seasons on one side of a scale, and Varitek's four no-hitters on the other side, the laws of gravity would favor neither side. A perfect balance of accomplishments.

Entering Monday night, Varitek had caught four of Matsuzaka's seven starts. In the three caught by Martinez, Daisuke's ERA was 11.05, and there were some whispers of a rift between the two. Although downplayed by the club, the numbers don't lie that these two were not on the same page.

In his four starts with Varitek behind the dish, Matsuzaka's ERA matched that of Buchholz himself (2.39), and opponents were hitting just .174 against the right-hander.

Needless to say, when it comes to handling different pitchers, the numbers are drastic in terms of how successful a pitcher is with a specific catcher. On Monday, manager Terry Francona decided to disregard the numbers and keep Victor's hot bat in the lineup, despite Matsuzaka's stellar numbers when hurling to Varitek.

Eight innings later, Francona would come out looking like a genius yet again, as Matsuzaka fired eight frames of shutout baseball. The Japanese-born right-hander pitched to contact, and still only allowed four hits on the night, all of which were singles.

Matsuzaka needed 112 pitches to cruise through eight innings, while striking out five and walking just two.

Not only did Martinez come through in terms of guiding Matsuzaka to a brilliant outing, but his 2-for-4 performance at the plate raised his average to .298. The former product of the Cleveland Indians also had an RBI, helping Boston defeat the Tribe by three runs.

Marco Scutaro kept his hitting streak alive, going 3-for-4, with 3 doubles and two runs scored.

With Jonathan Papelbon out of action for the next few days, tending to a family emergency, Daniel Bard was summoned in the bottom of the ninth for Boston. Bard suffered a bit of a hiccup when he allowed a solo home run to Austin Kearns on a 98 MPH heater, but the one run would be all the Indians could muster.

Final score: Red Sox 4, Indians 1
WP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (5-2)
LP: Fausto Carmona (4-5)

-Jared Carrabis

To order Jared's debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk, click HERE!





Published on June 08, 2010

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