05/14/2002

Now that the panic over Pedro is over, the moaning about Manny can begin.

The timing couldn't be better for Red Sox fans, who, for the last 84 frustrating years, annually hope for the best, but perennially expect the worst.

Red Sox rooters never are truly happy unless they're absolutely miserable.

They don't feel right unless they're feeling wronged. They're not comfortable unless they're squirming in their seats in consternation. They're never satisfied except when they're discontent.

Searching for silver linings in dark clouds isn't their thing. They'd much rather look up into a clear, blue sky and predict, not merely imminent rain, but a deluge.

While Yankee fans talk fondly about the Babe and Joe D., Mickey and Reggie, Derek, Bernie, Rocket Roger, and those 26 World Series championships, Red Sox fans anguish over The Curse of the Bambino, Enos Slaughter and Johnny Pesky, Bob Gibson and Julian Javier, Jim Burton, Bill Buckner and Bucky Dent.

Remember the wailing, the hand-wringing, the gnashing of teeth when Pedro was pummeled in the season opener at Fenway by the Blue Jays?

It took all of 9 minutes, never mind 9 innings, for rampant optimism among the Fenway not-entirely faithful to turn into deep-seated pessimism.

By that time, pitching coach Tony Cloninger was on the mound, conferring with Pedro, after the ailing ace had been touched for three runs in the opening inning.

Red Sox Nation was ready to write Martinez off then and there when he was roughed up for 8 runs on 9 hits in just 3 innings.

Pedro was all done. He'd never come back. His arm and his attitude would never be the same.

"If they want to panic," Pedro said afterward, "they can panic. But I feel healthy, and I'm very thankful for that."

Grady Little said he wasn't worried.

"I'd be concerned," said Little, "if his arm was bothering him. But it's not. He's still in the process where he's regaining command of all his pitches. It's coming slowly. We have to be patient. It'll be here soon."

Given a choice between panic and patience, you know what Red Sox fans will pick.

But here it is, mid-May, and Martinez just upped his record to 5-0 by overpowering the Mariners, who set an American League record last year by winning 116 games.

Pitching on just four days' rest for the first time all season, Pedro's fastball was clocked in the high 90s Sunday in Seattle as he limited the Mariners to four singles while striking out a season-high 12 in eight innings.

To a man, the Mariners said Martinez hadn't lost a thing; that he was as tough as ever.

Little said it was "probably the best (Pedro's) thrown all year."

Obviously, Martinez is fine, after so many fans -- and writers, too -- seemed to think he was finished.

Not only that, but the Sox have the best record in major-league baseball -- 25-9, including a phenomenal 17-4 mark on the road, heading into a 13-game homestand that starts tonight against the A's.

But pessimism still prevails.

Because, despite an early-season schedule filled with pushovers -- until going to Oakland last week, Boston had played 25 of its first 29 games against teams that failed to finish over .500 last year -- the Red Sox still are only three games ahead of the hated, dreaded Yankees, and now Manny is going to be out 4 to 6 weeks with a broken index finger on his left hand.

Ramirez is leading the league with a batting average of .372. He is leading the Sox in homers (9), RBI (35) and batting average with runners in scoring position (.517).

And now he's gone for at least a month, maybe two.

It is all too reminiscent of last year, when Nomar Garciaparra was sidelined by a wrist injury, then Pedro's problems cropped up, and then catcher Jason Varitek got hurt chasing a foul ball.

But there is a perverse pleasure in it all for Red Sox fans, who enjoy obsessing over the calamities, the bad luck and the ill fortune that have afflicted their benighted nine for the better part of a century.

They can wonder why, Saturday in Seattle, Manny chose that particular play to run hard, when he so often takes a leisurely approach to base running. They can shake their heads in dismay over the fact that, despite being warned by Little and coach Tommy Harper about his dangerous habit of sliding head-first, Ramirez did exactly that when he collided with Seattle catcher Dan Wilson. And, loving recriminations as they do, Red Sox fans can question endlessly -- or at least for the next 4 to 6 weeks -- why third-base coach Mike Cubbage waved Ramirez home in the first place with no outs.

The panic over Pedro finally has subsided. But the moaning about Manny has only just begun.