We have long thought that the Red Sox needed a knuckleball specialist catching when Wakefield is on the mound. The roster has been hamstrung by this belief, the Sox essentially carrying a player who might not make the squad if not for his ability to track and trap that elusive floating pitch.
For the past eight years, the Sox have had some of their weakest hitters serving as the backup catcher. We've had George Kottaras (a career .222 hitter), Kevin Cash (.186) and, of course, Doug Mirabelli (.231), who spent six years on the Good Ship Red Sox as Wakefield's personal caddy.
Now we have V-Mart. A man who has been the catalyst the Red Sox needed, entering Thursday's game with a .326 batting average since coming to town from Cleveland. He has done everything Terry Francona has asked of him — catching when needed, playing first when needed and batting third almost every night.
Wednesday night, Francona asked him to take on the seemingly unpleasant task of handling Wakefield's knuckleball offerings in the 43-year-old pitcher's first start since before the All-Star break. He would try to do something Josh Bard couldn't do, something that drove 14-year veteran John Flaherty into retirement after catching Wakefield in one spring training game back in 2006.
Not only did Martinez accept the challenge, he handled it flawlessly. No passed balls, no drama, no problem. Wakefield threw a beautiful seven innings, giving up just one run on six hits. He only walked one batter while striking out three.
As Humphrey Bogart's character, Rick, would say in Casablanca, "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Wakefield didn't get a decision on Wednesday. Scott Podsednik's pinch-hit home run off Ramon Ramirez took away his chance for a win. But the team's longest-tenured player did regain the confidence of Sox fans everywhere with his performance. He remains unbeaten in 10 Fenway Park starts this season, and he can help take the pressure off the likes of Junichi Tazawa and Clay Buchholz.
The Red Sox have been thin on pitching since Daisuke Matsuzaka went on the DL. Not many teams could survive an 18-game winner turning into a guy who is 1-5 with only 35 innings thrown this late in the season. Yet the Sox were able to keep rolling atop the AL East for much of the season because Tim Wakefield was winning 11 of his 14 decisions. Once he went down, the rotation began to falter. Sox starters were 11-15 with a 5.28 ERA with Wakefield down.
Now, Wakefield's back, and the Sox can once again talk about a deep rotation. And they can do it with one of the league's best hitters able to catch any of the five starters who will start for Boston. Victor Martinez isn't here because he can catch Wake. He's here because he can flat-out play baseball.
The fact that he can catch the knuckleball is just a bonus. A big bonus.
