He's a righty Randy Johnson. He is as intimidating as Don Drysdale was and Clemens still is. He is the idea that if you crowd the plate, he just might find your ribs with a 97-mph fastball. In the first inning, an off-speed pitch hit Edgar Martinez in the back of the batting helmet. He's so good he sucks the energy out of a stadium.
Anticipation turns to resignation.
It happened last night in the sixth inning, when Martinez struck out Edgar Martinez, John Olerud and Bret Boone. He got Olerud with a 96-mph fastball. He topped that with a 97-mph blur on Boone. Early in the game, Red Sox fans were hanging red Ks in the upper deck in right field, counting up his strikeouts the same way they do it in Fenway. But the Ks came down shortly after Mike Cameron struck out for the third time.