It was Aug. 25, 1997. I was assigned a story on Pedro Martinez (I worked in Kansas City at the time) and his reputation for being a headhunter.

I drove to St. Louis and watched Martinez pitch a masterpiece for Montreal during a 2-1 victory over the Cardinals: 8.2 innings, one run, four hits, two walks, 13 strikeouts. Expos manager Felipe Alou said after the game, `I think he wants to win the Cy Young.” Martinez was 15-6 at the time, finished 17-8 and, indeed, won the award.

It felt strange to bring up the subject after an impressive performance.  To be honest, Martinez was a little surprised, too. But he gave me a pretty good interview. He made it clear that a pitcher must keep hitters from being comfortable and open up the outer part of the plate.

I’m not talking about strikes on the inside corner. I’m talking about making a hitter back off the plate or move his feet or make him do the rope-a-dope without the rope.

“Pitching inside is soooooooo hard,” Martinez said, “because if you miss too much inside, you hit the batter. If you miss away, it’s over the plate.”

Martinez had no fear, one reason why he was a dominant pitcher in this league.

I blogged on Sunday morning about Twins starters not pitching inside enough to red-hot White Sox hitters. Of the four Twins starters in the series, only lefthander Glen Perkins made a consistent effort to do so. That’s got to change, especially against top lineups like the Red Sox and Yankees and against hot lineups.

I don’t doubt for one second that it’s hard to do…but it’s got to be done. Especially those pitchers who don’t throw hard (Hello, Kevin Slowey) and can’t afford to let opponents lean over the plate and whack those pitches.

Pitching inside became an issue from Sunday morning pre-game until the team got on the plane for Cleveland on Monday evening.

“If you look, everything out over the plate (the White Sox) were staying on and we didn’t pitch in very good at all,” Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson said on Monday. “It’s not how hard you throw but if you don’t show that you are going to pitch in and keep the guys honest - not strikes, I’m saying in off the plate - you let them get comfortable and take that plate.

“You cant let them get comfortable and, one through nine, they were comfortable.”

Anderson credited Perkins for getting in on hitters during Monday’s game. “Hopefully the guys sit and watched that. We have been preaching it to them.”

Ultimately, it’s up to the pitcher to throw the right pitches where they can be the most effective. But the coaching staff has to get it out of him.

The catcher does too. There were some pitches the coaching staff thought Joe Mauer could have called differently on Friday, especially when Nick Blackburn kept firing first pitch fastballs in the fifth inning. And the catcher can influence the pitcher to throw inside more.

They all must work together to make it happen. This is a developing starting rotation (except for ol’ Livo) so hopefully the White Sox series taught them a lesson.

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