New on SI TV: Shutting Out the Yankees is Pedro Martinez's Favorite Career Moment
SI TV presents "Aces' Choice," a brand new offering in partnership with MLB that gives you an unvarnished look of four of the greatest outings by four of the game's greatest pitchers. Pedro Martinez chose his complete-game shutout against the Yankees in May 28, 2000, where he outdueled fellow great Roger Clemens. Martinez stumped a historic Yankees lineup that included Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada. That Yankees team would go on to win the World Series while Martinez finished the season leading the Major Leagues with 313 strikeouts and the American Leagues with a 2.07 ERA. To watch this game in its entirety and the rest of the Aces' Choice series, start your seven-day free trial on SI TV today.
The Result:Red Sox 2, Yankees 0
The Line: 9 IP 4 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 9 K
The Backstory: Yankees. Red Sox. Need we say more? Remember, this was pre-2004: The Curse of the Bambino was still a thing, and Yankee Stadium was still a house of horrors for Boston. Especially when a certain ex-Sox ace (and current MLB Network analyst) was on the mound.
I would have to say the Sunday-night game against Roger Clemens. I got to go inning for inning in a packed Yankee Stadium while I was in my prime, and Roger was too. He was one of my idols. The game was tied at zero through the eighth inning, and we ended up winning. [Trot Nixon hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth; the game ended when Martínez got Tino Martínez to ground out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning.] But just the fact that I was able to match one of my idols inning by inning was amazing.
New on SI TV: Nolan Ryan Recounts His Seventh No-Hitter, the Favorite Outing of His Storied Career
SI Vault: The Power of Pedro: Tom Verducci profiles the game's most dominant pitcher.
Martinez possesses the power of Randy Johnson, the precision of Greg Maddux, the mound intellect of Mike Mussina and, at 5'11", 175 pounds, the body of Bud Selig. Baseball has never seen anything quite like him. In 1997 he became the shortest and lightest pitcher ever to strike out 300 batters in a season. Last year Martinez became the greatest combination of power and control in the history of the game.
