Martinez to Miss Start Due to Sore Shoulder

A day after his worst start, Boston Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez said Monday that he has stiffness in his right shoulder and will miss a start for the first time in his career.

“This is very common with pitchers. But no one thinks anything is common with Pedro,” team doctor and part-owner Arthur Pappas said.

The most valuable player in last week’s All-Star game, Martinez said his shoulder has hurt for the past month.

He will receive medication and massage therapy.

“I’m going to wait three days, not pick up a ball and see what happens,” he said.

Martinez said he felt something similar when he was in the minors; that was inflammation of the rotator cuff that took two months to heal.

“This is just tightness,” he insisted. “I’m just going to miss a couple of days.

“It’s about time. It took seven years.”

In other moves, pitcher John Wasdin was put on the 15-day disabled list because of a right forearm strain. Pitcher Jin Ho Cho and Marino Santana were recalled from Pawtucket, and infielder Wilton Veras was optioned to double-A Trenton.

Cho will pitch instead of Martinez on Friday.

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Greg Maddux, the Atlanta Braves’ four-time Cy Young Award winner, has discarded his contact lenses and glasses after undergoing laser eye surgery.

“It flat-out fixed them,” Maddux said. “I see good now. I think I’m better than 20-20. Incredible. It’s like I’m seeing better than I ever saw. It’s wild.”

Maddux told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday that he had the surgery on July 9 at the Emory Vision Correction Center--less than 48 hours before he gave up one run in eight innings during a win over the Boston Red Sox.