September 10, 2010

Pedro in New York, 1999

On this date in 1999, Pedro Martinez unleashed one of the most dominating pitching performances of all-time.

Martinez struck out 17 Yankees -- something no other pitcher has ever done. He allowed only one hit and did not walk anyone. He fanned eight of the final nine batters and 12 of the last 15. In the ninth inning, the entire Yankee Stadium crowd was on its feet, roaring.

The Yankees did not hit a fair ball on any of Pedro's last 53 pitches -- and managed only one fair ball on his last 70 pitches. ... One measly fair ball after the fourth inning!

Buster Olney, Times:
It was as if the Yankees were swinging within a darkened closet, for Martinez was throwing all three of his pitches for strikes. His fastball was moving ... and he was spinning his curveball for strikes, and when you looked for the fastball, he would then throw his changeup, the ball dropping away as if Pedro Martinez were manipulating it like a marionette. ...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ungodly.

allan said...

We were supposed to be there. A friend of L's was super late (never showed?) with the tickets -- and we gave up and went home. We watched from the 4th inning or so to the end live (then I rewound the VCR for the beginning.

laura k said...

I was wondering if this was the game we were supposed to be at. Thank dog you were taping it.

Jim said...

Those were the dark TV days up here when all got were the Blue Jays and Braves. Once in blue moon, on a Friday night, a Syracuse channel would show a Yanks game. This was one of those nights. I was giddy for days. I used to like Chile Davis, too. No more.

BklynSoxFan said...

The best pitched game I have ever seen. Period.

Thank you Petey.

mattymatty said...

Hey Allan, whats the state of the guess the Sox record contest?

SoSock said...

I WAS there! (Insert big huge smiley here)
It was my first ever live Red Sox game.
The atmosphere was absolutely electric. Yanks and Sox were 1st and 2nd in the East, about 3 or 4 games apart, iirc. Yanks struck first on a solo homer by Chili Davis, 2nd or 3rd inning, and held that until Mike Stanley clocked a 2 run shot in the 6th or 7th. After the 10th K, every time Pedro would strike out another one I would hold up my fingers and say "that's 11!" or "12!" and so on. My new found "friends" would hold up a finger and say "Still 1 to NOTHING!". They got less friendly after the Stanly HR :)

Amy said...

Ahh, one of the good old days. A little nostalgia feels good right now. Thanks.