Pedro, while he is IMO the best pitcher in the MLB today.. should have sat in the 8th.
He's a fragile pitcher.. something of a 7-inning guy. After 7 innings, you don't know what you'll get. Sometimes its good (CG vs the Twins in April this year) or bad.. (giving away the World Series in Game 7) .. he's not a big guy.
I gotta say that he made some critical errors that didn't have to do with velocity or fatigue in the 8th, though. Actually, Trot Nixon made a slight error by allowing Jeter to double on a potential fly-out.. but then Pedro just gave it up.
One of the things that makes Martinez phenomenal is his off-speed pitches.. notably his lauded change-up; it was AWOL in the 8th. He just delivered fastball after fastball right in the zone and they hit them. No high heat.. and no 69MPH change.
Pedro had enough in the tank to get out of the inning, he just didn't use it. Personally, after Pedro made two mistakes (hits by Jeter and Williams) Red Sox manager Grady Little made the biggest mistake of the game by not removing Petey as he customarily does to a starter when the man is burnt out. They shouldn't of even sent him out in the 8th, after the shaky 7th.. sheesh. That's one thing, but keeping him in long enough to give up 4 straight hits (with a dependable reliever in the bullpen ready to go) just defies all logic. It's as if the Red Sox were destined to lose even if Pedro was successful 90% of the game.
