01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, October 26, 2004

ST. LOUIS -- Yesterday, Pedro Martinez shut up.

Tonight, it's time he put up.

It's time he put up a string of zeroes, one after another, stretching across the scoreboard.

It's time he steps up the way Curt Schilling has.

It's time for him to prove he still can be a great pitcher instead of merely a good one.

It's time for him to be a hero.

Martinez, as is his postseason custom, declined to attend yesterday afternoon's meeting with the media at Busch Stadium, preferring to let his pitching do the talking when he takes the mound against the Cardinals tonight in Game 3.

The less said about his performance against the Yankees in the ALCS, the better.

He took the loss in Game 2, and could have been the loser in Game 5, when he gave up a two-out, bases-loaded double to Derek Jeter in the sixth inning that put New York on top, 4-2.

Then, in Game 7, Martinez provided the all-but-beaten Yankees with a glimmer of hope when he came on in relief of Derek Lowe, who'd given up just one hit through six innings, and was knocked around for three hits and two runs before he could get three outs.

Add those less-than-stellar performances to Pedro's failure to hold a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning of last year's ALCS Game 7, and it's no wonder he acknowledges the Yankees as his "daddy."

Well, if Yankees are his "daddy," then Pedro needs to make the Cardinals his little brothers. He needs to beat up on them. He needs to show them who's boss.

Because this could be the last time Pedro pitches for the Red Sox.

And, frankly, if he doesn't win, it should be the last time Pedro pitches for the Red Sox.

He's making $17 million in this, the final year of his current contract. He knows he'll have to take a pay cut, but is he willing to accept less than the $13 millon Schilling will be making in 2005? And, if you're the Red Sox, is there any way you'd pay Pedro more than Schilling?

Not only did Schilling lead the American League with 21 wins, and then add another in the ALDS against the Angels, but he then went out on a sutured ankle, oozing blood, and held the Yankees to one run and four hits over seven innings in Game 6 of the ALCS in Yankee Stadium. He then went limping to the mound again and beat the Cardinals Sunday night at Fenway Park in Game 2 of the World Series, giving up just one unearned run and four hits in six innings.

When was the last time Pedro was that good? More importantly, when was the last time Pedro was that gutsy?

While Schilling wins crucial games while pitching in pain on an injured ankle, the only thing Martinez is suffering from these days is a bruised ego, courtesy of the Bronx Bombers.

Once upon a time, Martinez was the best pitcher in baseball.

But that time is past.

Pedro turned 33 yesterday and clearly is past his prime, although no one would say, as Dan Duquette did when Roger Clemens left Boston to sign with Toronto, that he's "in the twilight of his career."

Still, the question about Pedro is not whether his pitching prowess will continue to decline, but how precipitous the dropoff will be from his glory days? There's also the question of what the Red Sox should be willing to wager to find out.

Tonight could go a long way toward helping them make that decision.

If Pedro throttles the Cardinals tonight, the Sox will go up, 3-0. As everyone now knows, the only team in postseason baseball history ever to come back from a 3-0 deficit is, of course, the 2004 Boston Red Sox.

By beating their perennial nemesis, New York, in the last four games of the ALCS, the Sox proved the wisdom of that renowned philosopher and former Yankees catcher, Lawrence Peter Berra, who once opined: "It's never over 'til it's over."

That said, it's safe to say that if Pedro can win tonight, you've certainly got to like Boston's chances of winning the World Series for the first time since 1918, bringing an end not merely to all the silly talk of curses, and ghosts, and other such foolishness, but, more importantly, bringing an end to generations of frustration, of anguish, of heartbreak endured by the storied franchise's long-suffering fans.

It's no easy task to subdue the Cardinals, and wouldn't have been even if Pedro was still at the top of his game.

The St. Louis lineup packs plenty of punch, and the Cards have been unbeatable at home in the postseason, taking two from the Dodgers and four from the Astros.

But the Red Sox have been knocking the proverbial cover off the ball, pounding out 11 runs in Game 1 and 6 in Game 2, and Martinez's mound opponent tonight is Jeff Suppan, who was left unprotected by Boston in the expansion draft in 1998, when he was selected by Arizona.

Suppan, who left Pittsburgh to sign with St. Louis this season as a free agent, has had a nice year, winning a career-high 16 games.

But he's no Bob Gibson, or Dizzy Dean, or even Harry Brecheen, who all pitched the Cardinals to World Series championships.

Brecheen beat Boston three times in 1946, including Games 6 and 7. Gibson won Games 1, 4 and 7 against the Red Sox in '67.

If Suppan comes anywhere close to pitching anything like that tonight, it will be a near miracle ranking right up there with Boston's comeback against the Yankees.

Despite Pedro's hefty paycheck and similarly large ego, he hasn't been able to beat the Yankees lately when the money's on the line, losing to them twice in September before his recent struggles in the ALCS.

But Boston was able to defeat New York, even without getting a win from Martinez.

He can more than make up for that tonight.

This is a huge game for the Red Sox, the kind of game Martinez was brought to Boston to pitch.

It's time now for Pedro to come up big.

If he doesn't, then Red Sox fans should say "Thanks for the memories," and not concern themselves if he heads elsewhere next season.