He got a standing ovation when his car arrived outside Fenway Park on Tuesday night. He got another ovation when a video tribute was shown on the scoreboard and his name announced to the crowd, and he showed his affection by dancing out of the dugout and wrapping himself in a hug. He got yet another heartfelt welcome when he emerged from the visitor?s dugout Wednesday night to take the mound, a sea of fans cheering his move. Surrounded by all that love, Pedro Jaime Martinez proceeded to get creamed. The Red Sox beat him with their bats, but they killed him with love. Frankly, he would?ve been better off getting booed. If only the fans had tossed batteries instead of kisses. If only they?d hurled invectives instead of well wishes, or rained down jeers instead of cheers. At least then, Pedro would?ve known he was the enemy, and would?ve steeled himself to play that role. Maybe knock a few hitters down; maybe glare into the dugout at teammates no longer on his side. But this is a softer, mellower Pedro with no hard feelings for anybody. The man was so effusive in his praise for all things Boston you had to wonder if he secretly didn?t still want to be in that Sox dugout, jiving and juking with Manny and Papi. Pedro confessed to being the ?number one Red Sox fan? and lamented a statement he?d made in 2004, when he said he loved the city too much to leave. That, he believed, persuaded the Red Sox that they could sign him for less money than he might take elsewhere, a fatal miscalculation. Whatever hurt feelings Martinez may have had over the Sox?s lukewarm attempts to resign him seemed to be washed away in a burst of nostalgic memories. By the time Pedro took the mound Wednesday night, he had about as much killer instinct as Shamu the whale. Not good when you?re about to face the hottest team in baseball, winners of ten straight, with a lineup heating up to midsummer stride. His first pitch to Kevin Youkilis split the plate for strike one. The carnage began shortly after, with Pedro contributing to his own troubles: after giving up hits to the first two batters, David Ortiz gave him a gift: a comebacker to the mound, tailor-made for a double-play. But Pedro seemed confused. He looked toward third, looked at second ? and inexplicably kept the ball, only getting the out at first. I wasn't mentally prepared," Mart?nez told the New York Times. "I got caught up in the emotions of being received so well here.? Pedro was even more well-received by Sox fans three innings later, by which time he?d given up eight runs, seven hits, walked two, and hit a batter?his worst outing since September 2004. He was gone after that, treated to yet another appreciative round of applause by fans who couldn?t possibly hate him, after all Pedro had done for them. And maybe, just maybe, on this most emotional of nights, there was no way Pedro could summon what was needed to shut down his old teammates.