A Broken Record

On the night he outpitched Pedro Martinez in October at Yankee Stadium, when he rushed from the field to a standing ovation, his own dad and children among those on their feet, Jon Lieber said it was nice of everyone to be so, well, nice to him.

No fist pump. No wave. No stories about a childhood spent destitute among the citrus trees, how he’d fought back an entire city and its famous, glorious baseball franchise with heart and guile and a hardball.

Just a few sliders, a few sinkerballs, a well-placed fastball, and seven shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox, the best-hitting team in baseball.

Jon Lieber, pitching with something other than the tendon he was born with in his right elbow, pitched with conviction and efficiency, regaining a career that had Cy Young promise before the elbow came apart two years ago.

Afterward, the din of his start and the Yankees’ 3-1 victory on Wednesday night still resonating from the stadium, Lieber pulled his small children by their hands to a television interview, into a news conference, one more question, one more thing.

He moved through the hallways of Yankee Stadium at a light jog, similar to that which took him from the mound, the baseball left in Joe Torre’s hand, a navy-blue crowd loud in its approval. The Yankees would soon lead the series, two games to none, Martinez and Curt Schilling behind them for now, the Red Sox’s advantage gone in 28 hours.

“Since I was a boy when I get taken out of a game, I try to get on and off the field [quickly]. I don’t know why,” Lieber said. “I’m not going to say I’m deaf to the whole situation, but you can hear what’s going on. That’s a great feeling. They’ve been tremendous all year, and they did it again tonight.”

The way it was drawn, the Red Sox would be different after eight decades of failure and the Yankees would be vulnerable after Mike Mussina.

Instead, the Red Sox have yet to score a run with Schilling or Martinez still in the game, Schilling might not pitch again this year, and Martinez is already loading up for a short-rest start. This seems to be no way to end a curse, but it’s their curse, they get to exorcise it their way in their time.

Whether by force or circumstance -- Mussina was perfect through six innings and Lieber might as well have been -- the Yankees have taken the early days of the best-of-seven series with their starting pitching, both wins requiring the Mariano Rivera safety net.

With the news on Schilling getting drearier by the hour, the Red Sox handed the baseball to Martinez and stood back, hoping for vintage Pedro, hoping he’d salvage something here in the town that calls itself his daddy, at Pedro’s urging. Those “Who’s your da-dee?” chants had thinned by the fifth inning; the Yankees weren’t making solid contact and Martinez threw his fastball 95 mph when he needed to.

Ultimately, Martinez said, he’d drawn strength from the taunts and hinted he wished his offense had, too.

“You know what, it actually made me feel really, really good,” he said.

People chuckled.

“I don’t even know why you guys laugh,” he said, now hurt, “because I haven’t even answered the question.”

All right.

“I actually realized that I was somebody important,” Martinez said, “because I caught the attention of 60,000 people, plus you guys, plus the whole world, watching a guy that if you reverse the time back 15 years ago, was sitting under a mango tree without 50 cents to pay for a bus. And today I was the center of attention of the whole city of New York.

“I’ve seen a lot of teams pass by and play against this team, the Yankees, and maybe because I’m with the Red Sox, but I feel so thankful that I got their attention and they got my attention.”

So, everybody seemed happy. Martinez got his attention, Lieber got his win and got out without too much attention. He’d lasted a batter into the eighth and made 82 pitches in all, including 45 in the first five innings, including 16 to Johnny Damon in one memorable duel in the sixth.

By the end, Lieber had pitched his best game as a Yankee, at the most opportune moment. He’d followed Mussina, then handed the series to Kevin Brown, who will pitch in Game 3, and the Yankees appeared to be rolling again, pressing advantages few knew they had.

“People just hadn’t seen this group do it before,” Mussina said afterward.

“It’s different names. It’s not Pettitte and Clemens and Wells. It’s different people doing it.”

Neither is it Schilling and Martinez, and now, maybe, it won’t be so different at all.