PREGAME

Welcome to the ridiculous live blog. 20 minutes until the first pitch, and all anyone can talk about, rightly enough, is Pedro Martinez's return to the Bronx. The consensus all week has been that pitching Martinez in Game 2, at Yankee Stadium, is a savvy move by the Phillies.

With all due respect to Pedro--my favorite player of all time--this will not end well.

Pedro's postseason record at Yankee Stadium is dubious at best: 0-1, with a 6.28 ERA in 14 1/3 innings. In his last showing, an inexplicable relief appearance in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, he immediately gave up 2 doubles and a single, threatening to let the Yankees back into the game. I missed the rest of the inning because my friends, as superstitious as I am, sent me out of the room until Pedro was out of the game. Looking back at the play-by-play, it looks like Pedro settled down and finished the inning without any further damage.

But Pedro was already on the decline in 2004. This is 5 years later, and he barely hits 90 mph on the radar gun these days. He was almost unhittable last week against the Dodgers, but the Yankees are no Dodgers. I want to get my prediction out of the way before the game begins: Pedro goes 5 1/3 innings, 7 hits, 2 walks, 5 earned runs.

I hope I'm wrong.