On Wednesday Pedro Martinez will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sports Museum of New England. Today Boston Globe sportswriter Julian Benbow provided a warmup:

ACE AND KING

Martinez dominated hitters and enraptured Fenway fans

Part of the dominating part:

To the naked eye, Martinez was unassuming at 5 feet 11 inches, 170 pounds – but on the mound, he was terrifying. His fastball topped out at 98 miles per hour, and on any count he could reach into his utility belt for his circle change, his curveball, or his cutter.

He didn’t challenge hitters, he dared them, once striking out the side with just nine pitches.

He was small, but he was frighteningly dominant.

Absolutely true for the majority of his career. But in his final stages, wasn’t Martinez more like what Robert Francis wrote in “Pitcher”?

His art is eccentricity, his aim
How not to hit the mark he seems to aim at.

His passion how to avoid the obvious,
His technique how to vary the avoidance.

The others throw to be comprehended.  He
Throws to be a moment misunderstood.

Yet not too much.  Not errant, arrant, wild,
But every seeming aberrant willed.

Not to, yet still, still to communicate
Making the batter understand too late.

The hardworking staff could be wrong about this. You splendid readers will no doubt let  us know if we are.