Must-Win Situations Attract Martinez

When Pedro Martinez took the mound on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, it was the sixth time he was pitching in a postseason game in which a loss would send his team home for the winter.

In four of the five previous games, Martinez’s team survived. In two of them, he was a relief pitcher, not a starter. In none of them did he truly pitch poorly and in one of them he was virtually unhittable. And what stands out when those five performances are considered as a whole is how much they convey the talent, unpredictability and outright quirkiness that are all parts of Martinez’s makeup.