Pedro Martinez and the Boston Red Sox head out to Busch Stadium for Game 3 of the World Series tonight where former Sox bust Jeff Suppan will be greeting them. Sure Suppan has pitched some nice games this postseason but he has done so against a rather pedestrian lineup in the Los Angeles Dodgers and a better lineup in the Houston Astros, albeit one with serious holes. Pedro Martinez will represent Suppan’s only break tonight, as he will bat ninth in the National League Park. For Suppan however, there will be no Brad Ausmus, no Brent Mayne, no Jose Vizcaino.

Jeff Suppan is another St. Louis righthander that relies heavily upon the batted ball being converted into an out. I found this interesting. It’s a compilation of individual pitchers’ numbers against Boston sorted by innings pitched. Look up and down it and there literally is not one on there who has even somewhat contained the Sox that is not either a lefty or at least a 7 K/9 righty. As I said yesterday, St. Louis is going to have to start hitting if they want to hang around this series because I just don’t see any way this Sox offense lets up.

The lineups are a wash (and I am not even sure that’s true but for discussion’s sake…) but Boston is trotting out the guy with the 10th best K/BB ratio in Major League Baseball and the 7th best K/9. St. Louis counters with the guy that ranks 60th and 63rd in those respective categories.

Plus, and don’t underestimate this, I firmly believe that a World Series title without a vintage contribution from Pedro will not sit as well with the future hall-of-famer. The knocks on Pedro are that he has not come up big in his biggest games (selective memory, for sure) and that he has not won a World Series title. Well he can take care of both of those things tonight and absolutely cement his status as one of the very best pitchers ever to take to a mound. My biggest hope is that he goes right at the mediocre sect of the Cards lineup. How infuriating was it watching him nibble and repeatedly throw off-speed stuff to the bottom third of the Yankees’ lineup? It’s ok if you don’t strike Mike Matheny out and in fact, a couple of two-pitch ground outs will be more beneficial. If Pedro forgets about the strikeout to the non 2-5 Cards hitters, he will be around in the 7th or 8th.

The Red Sox have a big edge tonight but that guarantees them nothing. Still, I am more than pleased to place my trust in the greatest pitcher I have ever seen.

One more time with feeling, Petey.