Twilight Zone

How does that song go? "Meet the Mets, Meet the Mets. Step right up and beat the Mets!" Well that may not be exactly right but that's what the Red Sox did last night, taking out New York's B-Team with a 9-4 win. It's a Perfect 10 for the Red Sox who have their longest winning streak since 2004, but while that was going on it was like living in the Twilight Zone as the Red Sox welcomed back the 1986 AL Champion Sox team and arguably their greatest pitcher of all time Pedro Martinez.

After weeks of speculation, Pedro was welcomed with a highlight video and a standing ovation in 2nd inning. Petey, who met with the media before the game, hammed it up in typical Pedro fashion.

Here are some of the quotes from Pedro's pregame presser:

Have you spoken with Red Sox ownership since your return? "No, I haven't but I wish he were here right now so I could say to him that I got four years and that I wanted them to work something out," Martinez said. "I wish (team president and CEO Larry) Lucchino were right here, so I could tell Lucchino again, when I flipped my glasses down (in the Dominican Republic in early December of 2004) and I said that I got four years, and he goes, 'No, bull-sh*t' - so he could really reconsider what he did, when I told him that I got four years. I remember John Henry saying, 'I don't care how many years you get, just get it done.' Those were the exact words. I just wish they were here so they could reconsider all that and remember that I was honest. And I said the truth."

On negotiating at the end of 2004: "I was stupid enough to say I was in love with Boston and I didn't want to leave," Martinez said. "They could tell I was sensitive about it, I was fragile, flexible that way, and that's probably what messed up everything."

"I kept saying I did not want to leave Boston. For business purposes, that was a bad move. I guess they thought when I said I didn't want to leave Boston that I would take whatever they would offer. I was speaking from the heart: 'I don't want to leave Boston.' That didn't work."

His Fenway legacy: "I'll say the atmosphere on the field will be my biggest legacy," Martinez said. "It was not just the mix of the players, but of the fans. It's like a good bar. When it opens, it's more fun than any other place. That was the atmosphere in Boston. In the seven years I was here the ballpark took on a different spin. The Dominican flags. The K crews. It was so much fun. The music. The people. The hype. The interest. I feel the atmosphere changed a lot. Numbers-wise, I don't have to talk about that. I didn't have to do anything extra."

There was a report by ESPN Radio Boston that Pedro entered the Red Sox clubhouse to greet friends and former teammates Big Papi David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Tim Wakefield. Curt Schilling, whose locker is reportedly right across from Oritz and Manny, ignored Pedro.

Not strange enough? How about Bruce Hurst, Oil Can Boyd, Wade Boggs, Marty Barrett, Spike Owen and many others returning to Fenway to celebrate the 1986 team 20 years after losing the World Series to the Mets. Dave Henderson, Roger Clemens (obvs) and Bill Buckner did not make the trip back.

As for the game, it took on the feel of a game in which the atmosphere is bigger than the game. After the circus of Pedro's return, the 1986 Sox return, and a large amount of Mets fans in the stands, could the Red Sox really lose this game? John Lester pitched well enough to hold off the Mets attack, getting out of bases loaded jams with Ks in the 4th and 5th innings. Home runs by Mike Lowell and Alex Gonzalez proved to be plenty of offense and the pen held up, even thought hey allowed a couple of solo home runs late.

And check out this in game interaction between Pedro and Manny...was this an exhibition game?