Martinez Throws More Salt in Dodger Wound

Former Dodger general manager Fred Claire has spent six years trying to forget his infamous 1993 trade of Pedro Martinez to Montreal for Delino DeShields, but Martinez, who has blossomed into baseball’s best pitcher, won’t let him.

Asked Tuesday about his older brother, Ramon, the former Dodger ace who overcame shoulder surgery to pitch for the Red Sox this season, Pedro said he was not surprised that Los Angeles didn’t re-sign Ramon last winter.

“I’m a living example of the mistakes the Dodgers have made,” said Martinez, who will start Game 1 of the American League division series against the Cleveland Indians tonight in Jacobs Field. “I’m glad Ramon is with me and the Dodgers are back home watching on TV.”

Martinez seems to take pleasure in sticking it to the Dodgers at every turn. When you throw 96 mph despite a 5-foot-11, 170-pound frame, when you’re a combined 59-19 with a 2.29 earned-run average, 869 strikeouts and 172 walks in the past three years, you can afford to rub it in.

“A lot of people made jokes about me,” Martinez said, without mentioning specific names in the Dodger organization. “They looked at me and saw me so small they never thought I could perform at this level. It was like, ‘He might be here because he’s Ramon’s little brother.’

“They always looked at the numbers Ramon put up in the minor leagues and compared them to mine. I didn’t think that was fair. I wanted to be Pedro, the one and only Pedro.”

He is now. Martinez went 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA, 313 strikeouts and only 37 walks this season. He’s a lock to win the Cy Young Award and a favorite for most valuable player.

“He’s the most dominant pitcher in the game, hands down,” Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar said.

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Mo Vaughn had a monster division series for the Red Sox last year, hitting .412 with two homers and seven RBIs, but the reason Boston lost to the Indians was their fifth through ninth batters combined to hit .135 with two runs and one RBI in four games. Alomar doesn’t see that happening again. “The Red Sox played more as a team this year, they didn’t count on one guy,” he said. “Mo was a great leader, but the other players felt they needed to contribute more in his absence, and they did.”

Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, who sat out two games over the weekend because of a bruised right wrist, took batting practice and infield drills Tuesday and will start tonight. “Is he 100%?” Manager Jimy Williams asked, repeating a question at Tuesday’s news conference. “Is anybody in here 100%?”

TONIGHT’S PITCHERS

RED SOX’S PEDRO MARTINEZ 23-4, 2.07 ERA) vs. INDIANS’ BARTOLO COLON (18-5, 3.95 ERA)

Jacobs Field, Cleveland, 5:15 PDT

TV--Channel 11.

* Update--One reason the Indians are 1-8 in playoff series openers since 1995 is they haven’t had a dominant starting pitcher, but Indian Manager Mike Hargrove believes Colon, who went 11-2 with a 2.60 ERA in the second half, is evolving into the staff ace Cleveland has wanted.