A Rude Awakening Awaits Martinez

Boston Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez gave up eight hits and eight earned runs in five-plus innings of the Red Sox’s 11-1 loss Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

It was also at Yankee Stadium last October when Martinez blew a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the American League championship series, allowing the Yankees to tie the score. (The Yankees won the game on Aaron Boone’s home run in the 11th.) So maybe it’s understandable that Martinez is not fond of Yankee Stadium.

Before the weekend series, Martinez was asked by the New York Post’s Steve Serby to name the funniest thing a fan had said to him at Yankee Stadium.

“Nothing funny. Everything is rude,” Martinez said.

A little testy: Serby also asked Martinez: “Do you pitch in a controlled rage?”

Said Martinez: “What is this, a psychology test?”

Trivia time: Who holds the USC single-game records for most rushing yards and most touchdowns?

A better place: After Fresno State’s Wendell Mathis rushed for 123 yards and two touchdowns in the Bulldogs’ 27-10 victory over Portland State on Saturday night, he said, “This line is the best that I’ve ever run behind.”

Mathis, a junior from Merced, is a transfer from UCLA, where he had 50 yards in 18 carries in the nine games he played for the Bruins in 2002.

Not natural foes: In 2002, the Houston Texans selected Fresno State quarterback David Carr with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. The Detroit Lions took Oregon’s Joey Harrington two picks later. On Sunday, the two met on the field. Carr passed for 313 yards and Harrington 176, but the Lions won, 28-16.

“It’s an obvious comparison because we were the top QBs taken two years ago,” Carr said Sunday. “But like I said to him before the game, ‘I can’t do anything to stop you, and you can’t do anything to stop me.’ If I was a safety, it would be different.”

Who’s the jerk? Fox’s Terry Bradshaw said on the air Sunday that he regretted “to some extent” calling New York Giant Coach Tom Coughlin a jerk the previous weekend.

In Sunday’s New York Post, columnist Phil Mushnick asked: “How is it that Fox’s show regularly includes Bradshaw in pandering sessions with the likes of Keyshawn Johnson and Warren Sapp, but Coughlin is condemned as a jerk?”

Looking back: On this day in 1973, Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets to win the Battle of the Sexes.

Trivia answer: Ricky Bell, who ran for 347 yards in a school-record 51 carries against Washington State in 1976, and Anthony Davis, who scored six touchdowns against Notre Dame in 1972.

And finally: ESPN will present a five-part “SportsCenter” series on gambling every night this week.

Could the timing have anything to do with the Saturday airing of an ESPN-produced movie on Pete Rose’s gambling problems?

Larry Stewart can be reached at [email protected].