Yankees even score against their old rival

Martínez is game, but Burnett excels in 3-1 win for New York

NEW YORK -- Of all the flamethrowers, gunslingers and junkballers in the world, who, of all people, should the New York Yankees have run into in Game 2 of the World Series, but someone who has been all three, and so much more, over the years -- someone familiar, standing now at the center of the diamond at the Yankees' new $1.5 billion palace, in the road grays of the Philadelphia Phillies, on a night when the Yankees desperately needed a win, daring them to swing.

But after all the hype and the introspection and the poetry, Pedro Martínez's long-awaited return to the Bronx was neither a triumph nor a debacle -- just a night when the Yankees had the better pitcher on the mound, and a night when they methodically took down the Phillies with a 3-1 victory at Yankee Stadium that squared the best-of-seven series at a game apiece.

The Yankees worked Martínez, their longtime foil, for three runs over his six-plus innings, while A.J. Burnett, the Yankees' lanky right-hander, was borderline-dominant. Burnett worked seven excellent innings, allowing only six base runners while striking out nine and giving the Yankees the shutdown outing they needed.

Through the series' first two games, pitching has ruled over the two potent lineups, with the four starting pitchers thus far combining for a 1.86 ERA. After an off day, the series resumes Saturday night in Philadelphia, with lefties Andy Pettitte of the Yankees and Cole Hamels of the Phillies squaring off.

"I told you guys it's not just a home-run-hitting contest, with [pitchers] just throwing it down the middle," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. "They're going to bear down, and it's tough to score runs."

Closer Mariano Rivera, the only active pitcher on the planet whose legend is equal to that of Martínez, collected the final six outs for the Yankees, as Manager Joe Girardi chose to bypass his shaky setup crew altogether. Rivera, though, gave up two hits and a walk, requiring 39 pitches -- the most he has thrown in a postseason game in five years.

"I feel fine," Rivera said afterward. "It took maybe a few more pitches. But it was a save, period."

In terms of pure theater, nothing in this postseason could match the return of Martínez, arguably the greatest pitcher of his generation, to the Bronx -- where, as a member of the hated Boston Red Sox, he played the role of chief villain in those years when the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry was at its most bloody.

The old goat, as Martínez has taken to calling himself, is older and wiser now, as he is also fond of pointing out, and on Thursday night he pitched bravely and effectively for his first six innings, allowing only a pair of solo home runs to Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui.

After the sixth, Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel approached Martínez in the Phillies' dugout, where Martínez looked him in the eye and said several times, "I'm fine." Thus convinced, Manuel sent him back out for the seventh, only to be forced to yank him two batters in, when Jerry Hairston Jr. and Melky Cabrera opened the inning with back-to-back singles.

"He wanted to go back out and pitch," Manuel said of Martínez. "The bottom of the lineup was up, and I thought he hadn't lost anything."

If nothing else, Martínez has likely guaranteed himself another start -- probably back at Yankee Stadium in Game 6, if the series lasts that long.