VENUE: Fenway Park
GAME: Los Angeles Dodgers (32-27) at Boston Red Sox (36-25).
TIME: Saturday, 3:15 p.m. EDT.
Coming off his best outing of the season, Pedro Martinez squares off against the team he began his career with as the Boston Red Sox conclude a three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Martinez allowed a season-low two hits in a season-high eight innings in Tuesday's 1-0 win over the San Diego Padres. The hard-throwing right-hander bounced back nicely from his previous start, in which he allowed a season high-tying seven runs and a season-worst 11 hits in just five innings against Anaheim.
"It was fun," Martinez said after beating the Padres. "That was a team that had a lot of strangers there, and I didn't know what to expect. But it was fun to actually give the fans what they expect."
Martinez, who struck out eight, walked one and hit a batter, had a 94 mile-per-hour fastball and command of the curveball that he said had been off against the Angels.
"The way the weather is going right now and the way I'm feeling the last three outings, I don't see why not," he said when asked if he would be able to keep up the momentum.
Martinez was originally signed by Los Angeles and spent parts of the 1992 and 1993 seasons with the Dodgers, who are making their first-ever trip to Fenway Park. He went 10-6 with a 2.58 ERA in 67 appearances, including three starts, for Los Angeles before being traded to Montreal before the 1994 season.
Martinez will face Los Angeles starter Hideo Nomo, who went 13-10 with a 4.50 ERA with the Red Sox in 2001. Nomo lost his career high-tying fifth straight decision Tuesday, allowing five earned runs and six hits in five innings of a 7-1 defeat to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Nomo, activated from the disabled list to make the start, threw 100 pitches, including 36 in the first inning. He had been on the DL since May 20 with a torn nail on his right index finger.
"I think Hideo tonight was a little bit better than the numbers really appear," manager Jim Tracy said. "I think that a couple of instances he had hitters in the position that he would like to have them in."
Nomo and Martinez are the only two players in this series to have played for both teams.
The Red Sox lost 14-5 to the Dodgers on Saturday - just their second defeat in seven games. Manny Ramirez homered and had two RBIs, and David Ortiz also drove in two runs for Boston.
Olmedo Saenz homered and drove in four runs for the Dodgers, who also got homers from Juan Encarnacion and Jayson Werth. Cesar Izturis went 4-for-5 with two runs, an RBI and two stolen bases for Los Angeles, which scored a season-high seven runs in the fifth inning.
STANDINGS: Dodgers - 1st place (tied), NL West. Red Sox - 2nd place, 3½ GB, AL East.
DODGERS PROBABLE STARTER: Nomo (3-6, 7.33 ERA). Nomo, who won 16 games in each of the last two seasons, has not earned a victory since April 21. He is 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA in four career starts against the Red Sox. Nomo pitched the second of his two career no-hitters in his Boston debut on April 4, 2001.
RED SOX PROBABLE STARTER: Martinez (6-3, 3.98 ERA). Martinez is 1-3 with a 3.53 ERA in five career starts against Los Angeles.
OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Dodgers - Paul Lo Duca, .355 avg.; Adrian Beltre, 15 HRs and 40 RBIs; Shawn Green, 34 runs; Dave Roberts, 21 SBs. Red Sox - Ramirez, .342 avg. and 17 HRs; Ortiz, 54 RBIs; Mark Bellhorn, 44 runs; Johnny Damon and Pokey Reese, 5 SBs.
INTERLEAGUE RECORDS: Dodgers, 2-3. Red Sox, 3-2.
STREAKS AND NOTES: Dodgers - RHP Eric Gagne, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, is one of just six Los Angeles relievers to strike out 100 batters in a season, and the only pitcher to do it twice. RHP Martinez struck out 113 for the Dodgers in '93. ... Saturday's starter, RHP Jeff Weaver, and Tracy had an argument in the dugout in the top of the sixth inning after the pitcher was replaced at the start of the inning by RHP Guillermo Mota. ... Los Angeles had not scored 14 runs since a 16-4 win over San Francisco on April 20, 2003. The Dodgers have scored in double figures three times in 13 games after doing it just twice last season. Red Sox - INF David McCarty pitched a perfect ninth inning Sunday in his second pitching appearance of the season. ... SS Nomar Garciaparra played his third game Saturday since making his season debut Wednesday. Garciaparra sat out Friday's game to get some extra rest. ... Team doctor Bill Morgan, who conducted an MRI on RHP Curt Schilling's ankle Tuesday, said Saturday that Schilling had a mild bone bruise. Schilling will make his scheduled start Wednesday at Colorado.
ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Dodgers - 17-15 on the road; Red Sox - 21-11 at home.
INJURIES: Dodgers - RHP Paul Shuey (thumb), 15-day DL; C Todd Hundley (back), 60-day DL. Red Sox - 3B Bill Mueller (knee), 15-day DL; OF Ellis Burks (knee), 15-day DL; OF Trot Nixon (back), 15-day DL; RHP Ramiro Mendoza (shoulder), 15-day DL; RHP Jason Shiell (elbow), 15-day DL; LHP Brad Thomas (elbow), 15-day DL; RHP Reynaldo Garcia (elbow), 60-day DL.
