Recharged Battery
Whatever differences Daisuke Matsuzaka and Victor Martinez had were resolved in the catcher’s former stomping ground. With the rotation weakened by Josh Beckett’s departure, Matsuzaka realized he had to step up his game. As hot as Martinez’s bat has been, the backstop also has a lot of pride in his game calling behind the plate and his skill in this arena has been questioned.
Matsuzaka had his best outing since his no-hit bid, an eight-inning performance in which he allowed just six baserunners (four by hit, two by bases on balls) and struck out five batters. An impressive 62.5% of Matsuzaka’s pitches were strikes.
Martinez went 2-for-4 with a run batted in by sacrifice fly in the seventh. He displayed his powerful stroke in the fourth with a ringing double off the pseudo-Monster that inhabits Progressive Field’s left field but was stranded.
Rare is the athlete who cottons to Cleveland, but Martinez was saddened to leave the only team he knew in last season’s deadline deal. He returned to meager applause but only because the Cleveland Indians’ attendance has declined precipitously from their 2007 playoff run. As distant as that seems, even deeper in the recesses of the club’s memory is the 455-game sellout streak from June 12, 1995 through April 4, 2001.
Flo, the chipper Progressive Insurance salesperson, wasn’t even there to give Martinez discount auto insurance or compliment him on his European shoulder bag.
| Game 59: June 7, 2010 | ||
 Red Sox34-25 | 4 | W: Daisuke Matsuzaka (5-2) |
| 2B: Marco Scutaro – 3 (14), Victor Martinez (16), Adrian Beltre (16) | ||
| Indians 21-35 | 1 | L: Fausto Carmona (4-5) |
| HR: Austin Kearns (5) | ||
